The Minnesota Twins fell to the San Diego Padres 3-0 in the first game of the two-game series at Petco Park. Twins starting pitcher Jose Berrios pitched five no-hit innings, but the Twins couldn’t find much hitting themselves against Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin. The Twins have had a miserable West Coast road trip, winning just one of seven games.
“I think guys are trying to do a little too much,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “Or the usual symptoms when you press and try to win games. Try to keep the line moving rather than try to hit a three-run homer, or those type of things. You’re just trying to look for a quality at-bat with runners in scoring position.”
In seven innings, Berrios held San Diego to one run on two hits with four strikeouts.
“It’s not fun when you do well and things don’t go your way,” Berrios told the Star Tribune. “We’re definitely still trying to compete.”
Prior to the game, Molitor looked for some theme music to describe how to attack the rest of the season. He decided to select the song “No Surrender,” by Bruce Springsteen from 1984.
“It happened to randomly come across my playlist,” Molitor told the Star Tribune. “I said, that’s a good one for today.”
The Twins had recently traded two key pitchers in All-Star Brandon Kintzler and Jamie Garcia. Molitor still stressed to his team to play to win, but many of the players were in disbelief of how the organization has switched from buyers to sellers prior to the trade deadline.
“The odds get a little longer when you lose a few pieces,” Molitor told the Star Tribune. “But it doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish what you set out to accomplish over the past four-and-a-half months.”
The Twins need to figure out how to win the tight ball games. Despite their dismal road trip, they have only been outscored 29-21. The bullpen remains a huge question for the Twins, if they want to climb back into the division and Wild Card race. Despite the narrow run differential on the road trip, the Twins have been outscored 17-2 in the fifth inning or later.
The Twins finish off the road trip against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday afternoon as Ervin Santana takes on Luis Perdomo.
– Scott Jordahl
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