Make it eight in a row for the Minnesota Twins, who are now 8-26 in May and couldn’t beat the Cleveland Indians despite hitting four home runs and taking a lead in the eighth inning.
Minnesota failed to capitalize on having the bases loaded with two outs in the second inning and with one out in the eighth. Still, Byung Ho Park hit two home runs and Trevor May, who had a streak of nine scoreless games before Friday night, entered the game with a 5-4 lead.
The Tribe’s three runs in the eighth turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
“I’m asking you. We’re asking everybody,” second baseman Brian Dozier told the Star Tribune. “We have to find something where [we get] that one win.
“It’s testing us, man. It’s testing every single one of us. Our character, how we play the game. We have to find something. Dig deep. Keep grinding.”
They tried. Eduardo Nunez homered in the eighth to put Minnesota up 5-4, then drove in a run in the ninth to cut the lead to 7-6. And the Twins had a man on third when Park struck out later that inning.
But try as they might, and as productive as the bats were at times, Minnesota couldn’t stave off an eighth straight defeat.
“We need to get some results pretty soon,” starter Ricky Nolasco said. “This is getting pretty ugly.”
[Star Tribune, Associated Press]
