Phil Hughes only gave up six hits and two earned runs over 7.0 innings, but the Minnesota Twins struck out 18 times and couldn’t muster a run in a 2-0 loss to the Washington Nationals yesterday.
Nationals starter Tanner Roark had a career-high 15 strikeouts over 7.0 innings, and each Washington reliever — Blake Treinen, Oliver Perez and Jonathan Papelbon — added one of their own against a Twins lineup that mustered only two hits all night.
“Hughes pitched a heck of a game,” Brian Dozier told the Star Tribune. “Offensively, we stunk.”
“The strikeouts,” manager Paul Molitor added. “They are partly [Roark], partly us. That’s a big number, no matter who is out there. It was frustrating.”
Seven Twins struck out twice, including Joe Mauer, who had one of the team’s two hits. Max Kepler, starting at center field, had the other. Sano, who started at third base for the first time this season, struck out three times.
“It was frustrating because Phil settled down and did a nice job of completing his outing,” Molitor told the Pioneer Press. “He did not have a lot of opportunities. (Hughes) was aggressive, especially inside. He just did a nice job. He kept his pitch count down. He did everything he could.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press]