The Houston Astros were 0-659 in franchise history when trailing by six-plus runs in the eighth inning. With their 16-8 win today, in which the Minnesota Twins were leading 8-2 heading into the penultimate inning, the Astros now have a win in the record books thanks to the 14 runs allowed by the Twins bullpen on Monday.
Following a six-hour and 26-minute game the Twins lost 8-6 in the 15th inning, Minnesota gave up 11 runs in the eighth inning and three in the ninth. Ryan Pressly gave up five of them while recording only one out. Craig Breslow gave up three more, recorded only one out, and took the loss. Matt Belisle gave up three of his own and got out of the inning.
“It was a good game for seven innings,” manager Paul Molitor said wryly after the game.
“We had a nice offensive day after being shut down early. We were affected by yesterday’s game and what we could do today. The guys that we had were a little bit taxed, we all saw the struggles that we had the last couple of innings.”
Here’s the damage:
Also of note:
“It’s a hard one,” added Molitor. “I think it’s magnified by yesterday, coming off a tough loss in extra innings, and then to let one slip away like that today. All you can do is hope you can find a way to recharge yourself a little bit, and hopefully come back and Jose has a good day.”
Ervin Santana could have been upset with the result, given that he went seven innings, giving up only five hits and two runs (one earned) on 114 pitches, but he understood what was going on with the bullpen:
As for Molitor, his decision to go with Pressly, rather than Drew Rucinski — a fresh arm the Twins called up from Triple-A Rochester this morning — was questioned by the vox populi on Twitter until Rucinski gave up a homer and three earned runs in the ninth inning.
“We have one of the best offensive teams in the game with a six-run lead,” he said tersely when asked about his decision to go with Pressly, “you’re gonna go with your experience and guys that you feel should get people out.”
For those wondering if the Twins are bursting at the seams, consider Zach Kram’s recent article on The Ringer. Minnesota is hitting and pitching comparably to last season, it’s the defense that has vaulted them to the top of the AL Central.
When Ehire Adrianza, an infielder with no outfield experience in major leagues, replaced Byron Buxton in the sixth inning due to injury, moving Eddie Rosario to center field, things started to fall apart.
The play in left field was a ball that was hit to the wall that Adrianza tried to jump and catch. The play in center was a sliding catch that Rosario attempted but came up short on.
“I thought he played the ball pretty well, actually. I haven’t looked at it on video,” said Molitor on Adrianza’s attempt.
“He got back there and leaped and just didn’t make the catch. He hasn’t been out there, we all know that. The games that he played in Triple-A, reports were that he looked fairly comfortable out there. I could have put Robbie out there, we all know he had options at that point.”
On for Rosario’s slide, Molitor said: “He got there. It hit off his glove. Sometimes you go into a dive, and your eyes don’t track it into the glove, but we had him in the right spot to make a play and he just couldn’t make the catch.”
Buxton is day to day with a lacerated right ring finger, which was cut on Rosario’s spikes when he tried to make a diving catch.
Rosario came up with the ball. Buxton did not appear worried about his ailment after the game:
“He caught his right index finger on Rosario’s cleat and X-rays are negative,” said Molitor. “It swelled up on him fairly significantly, and there was a little bit of a cut there.”
Any reasonable person knew today’s game was going to be affected by yesterday’s marathon that drained the bullpen and physically taxed the position players.
The question going forward is how long those effects will linger.
