A late double by an unlikely source in the ninth inning off Minnesota Twins closer Kevin Jepsen led to the decisive run in a 6-5 loss at Target Field on Tuesday afternoon. A bundled-up crowd of 17,597 subdued fans — probably a fairly equal mix of Twins and Brewers backers — alternated cheering and jeering on a dreary day in downtown Minneapolis.
The Twins dug a deep hole in the fifth inning, as Miguel Sano’s misplay of a Scooter Gennett line drive to right field resulted in a two-base error, and ultimately a three-run inning to break open what was to that point a 2-2 game. Both starters struggled early, as Ervin Santana had trouble commanding his pitches and wasn’t helped out by his defense, either.
“I was not finishing; that’s the main thing for me. To finish my slider. I didn’t have that today,” Santana said diplomatically on a day where he certainly struggled, but was not the only culprit. Jonathan Lucroy, the Brewers’ regular catcher but designated hitter on Tuesday afternoon, followed a Ryan Braun walk by roping a double down the left field line to plate Gennett.
By the end of the frame, the Brewers held a 5-2 lead.
Milwaukee starter Wily Peralta, who entered with an ERA in excess of 10.00, sure looked as though he wanted to give back an early 2-0 run he was staked to in the first inning. After a pair of doubles — one of which came on the first of multiple Sano misplays on the day — led to two runs in the top half of the inning, Peralta loaded the bases on a double, single and walk before Sano grounded into an unconventional double play (5U, 5-3) to plate the first run of the game for the Twins.
Peralta danced out of danger in the first with a quick three-pitch strikeout of Arcia to end the inning, but was again in hot water in the second as he loaded the bases with no outs. The Twins again scored just one as Byron Buxton grounded into a fielder’s choice force out at the plate. Eduardo Nunez hit a routine grounder into the shift at short, but that left second base uncovered. As a result, what should have been a pretty routine double-play grounder became an RBI groundout to tie the game at two. A wicked smash from Joe Mauer — on his 33rd birthday — that was corralled by Gennett at second once again allowed Peralta to emerge virtually unscathed.
The Twins did not score again until the eighth, as Peralta settled down and was aided by 1.2 innings of scoreless relief from Michael Blazek. Byung Ho Park hit a tremendous 394-foot line drive home run off Brewers reliever Tyler Thornburg that sent fans scurrying in the second deck, and two batters later Eddie Rosario followed it up with a two-run pinch-hit home run to the berm in dead center field, just in front of the batter’s eye some 412 feet from home plate.
That set up the heroics in the ninth for Milwaukee’s Yadiel Rivera, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement for Colin Walsh at third base. Rivera hit a booming double to center field off Jepsen — just his sixth career hit but third double — that Buxton had trouble picking up, which allowed the runner to reach third on what was ruled an error. “It was a fastball, a 1-0 fastball,” Jepsen said. “I stayed away from (Rivera), and he put a good swing on it.” Manager Paul Molitor said postgame that he felt Rivera was breaking for third either way, and that it wasn’t terribly likely the Twins would have had a play on him, but the miscue sealed him reaching third on the play.
Gennett, who was a thorn in the Twins’ collective side with back-to-back two-hit games to start the series, followed with a single past the drawn-in Twins infield to plate Rivera with ultimately the winning run.
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Notes
The loss dropped the Twins to 223-216 all-time against the Brewers, and 50-42 in interleague games since Milwaukee joined the National League in 1998.
Rosario’s pinch-hit home run in the eighth was the first of his career, and the Twins’ first since Sano hit one on Sept. 7, 2015.
Rosario still has more career triples (15) than home runs (14).
Michael Tonkin struck out two batters in his 0.2 innings of work; for the season, he’s recorded 15 total outs — eight via strikeouts (14.4 K/9).
Walsh’s double to lead off the game was the first MLB hit for the Brewers third baseman.
Jeremy Jeffress closed the game out for his NL-leading fifth save for the Brewers.
Up Next
Minnesota Twins at Milwaukee Brewers – April 20, 7:10 first pitch – LHP Tommy Milone (0-1, 5.06) vs. RHP Jimmy Nelson (2-1, 2.79)
