Kyle Gibson entered Friday night’s matchup against the Washington Nationals with a 2.13 ERA. A four-run first inning and three-run third raised his ERA to 6.10.
He finished the night with 3.0 innings pitched, gave up seven earned runs on seven hits, and issued two walks while also hitting a batter.
“I think other than today I’ve felt fairly decent about the way I’ve thrown the ball,” Gibson told the Star Tribune.
“Maybe a couple bad innings here and there. I don’t know if it is too much of a head-scratcher. I think today is a little bit. I felt really good going into today and felt I was going in the right direction, so I try not to read too much into one outing.”
Jose Lobaton, Danny Espinosa, Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon all had two hits on the night. Bryce Harper and cleanup hitter Ryan Zimmerman combined to go 0-for-7, but each drew a walk and scored.
Michael Tonkin gave up a run in 3.0 innings of relief, and Ryan Pressly (1.0) and Ryan O’Rourke (1.0) kept the Nationals from extending their lead.
The Twins scored their runs on an RBI single by Joe Mauer in the fourth, a two-run single by Eduardo Nunez in the seventh and a solo home run by Miguel Sano in the eighth. But by then the game was out of reach.
“It was only five or six pitches in with two outs and a man on first,” manager Paul Molitor told the Star Tribune. “All of sudden they turn it into a four-run first. And it didn’t set a very good tone on a couple walks and a couple of hits.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press]
