A five-run third inning ultimately did the Minnesota Twins in today. Kyle Gibson was pegged with the loss in a 13-4 blowout win for the Detroit Tigers. He gave up eight hits and six earned runs in 2.2 innings and has yet to go six innings in four starts this season.
“Kyle is having difficulty throwing enough strikes,” said Molitor of Gibson, who threw 71 pitches, 39 for strikes. “Hitter’s counts. When he does get ahead, it seems like they battle back and find a way to drive his pitch count up. So yeah, that was tough to watch that, to be honest with you, and we just try to find a way with that already somewhat thin bullpen of trying to manipulate our way through it.
“So yeah, not a good day.”
Minnesota got out to a 1-0 lead after Brian Dozier’s leadoff double and Miguel Sano’s RBI single. But left fielder Danny Santana dropped a catchable ball and Alex Avila homered to give Detroit a 2-1 lead in the second. A five-run third chased Gibson and put Minnesota in a deficit they could not overcome. 26,713 witnessed this game, the largest crowd since Opening Day.
“Danny got a really nice jump on that ball,” said Molitor. “I had a really good view of it, and somehow it didn’t end up in his glove.”
Gibson, a sinkerball pitcher, kept the ball on the ground, but many of them got through the infield.
“Miggy looked like he didn’t see a couple particularly well, the one that got by [Brian] Dozier there to end Gibson’s day,” said Molitor. “But they were hit sharply. They were hitting the ball, even though it was on the ground sometimes.”
Gibson was even-keeled with the media after the game, but expressed frustration with is play:
Notes
There were a couple notable things to come out of this game, even though it was a blowout.
- Minnesota finishes its nine-game homestand 2-7. They are now 8-10 after starting the year 5-1. “It was not a good ending to not a very good homestand,” said Molitor. “Lay it out, you get an opportunity to play your division at home early on, had some nice days to play, and some of the games were good, competitive, but man, we had a couple that get your attention.” (That 11-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday stands out.)
- Buddy Boshers didn’t give up a run in the 2.1 innings he pitched. He was sent down immediately after the game, however. “Unfortunately we’re gonna send him back down, and it’s not an easy conversation when a guy comes up and does his job,” said Molitor. “But he’s gonna have to go back.” Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reports that Nick Tepesch will join the team tomorrow in Texas.
- Ryan Pressly gave up three hits and three earned runs, including a home run, in less than an inning today. He pitched well in his last outing, but gave up five earned runs in his previous three. “He had a little rough finish to camp, but we’ve kinda eased him in here at the start,” said Molitor, “He had a couple decent outings, and then he gave up some homers and then we got him into a big situation the other day and he did a nice job.”
- Finally, and perhaps the only real positive note, Chris Gimenez pitched! He’s the team’s backup catcher. “I was gonna go to Gimenez there in the ninth, and we scored a couple runs and a six-run deficit wasn’t very likely, but I thought that I would bring him into the game,” said Molitor. “He’s told me about three or four games this year that he’s already stretched and ready to go.”
Gimenez talked to the media after the game. He appeared to be genuinely interested in helping the team out, saying he doesn’t care about his ERA or that his “fastball” tops out at 80-something mph and his curveball is around 65 mph:
Outside of Gimenez pitching and Boshers’ outing, it’s hard to take any major positives away from this game. Forget the 2-7 homestand for a second, the two major clunkers against Cleveland and Detroit are eerily reminiscent of last year’s Twins (and 2011-14, really). Hopefully games like these aren’t a harbinger for what’s to come. That 5-1 start seems like a long time ago.
