The Minnesota Twins need a break. The pitching is worn out, the defense is slipping and an impressive start has been a bit tarnished by a weekend of losses before the All-Star Break, including today’s 11-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
The Twins dug an early hole again today. Kyle Gibson issued a four-pitch walk to Baltimore leadoff hitter Seth Smith and then gave up a three-run homer to Adam Jones in the first inning. He then walked Hyun Soo Kim and gave up an RBI double to Caleb Joseph, the 8 and 9 hitters, in the second.
“The beginning gets your attention right away when you start the game with a four-pitch walk,” said Molitor. “We all know that Jones likes to ambush, and he just kinda hung a slider and put us behind. And then the second inning, a leadoff walk again.”
Gibson pitched a 1-2-3 third and kept the Orioles off the board in the fourth, but another Jones homer and a Mark Trumbo single chased him in the fifth.
“I don’t know if I had quite enough pitching to extend the whole game, so I was trying to get the most out of him that I could. He put up a couple zeroes and gave us a chance to get back in the game.”
Ubaldo Jimenez, the Orioles starter, gave up four runs in the fourth inning. He hit the first batter he faced, Kennys Vargas, and then issued three straight walks to Chris Gimenez, Zack Granite and Brian Dozier before Robbie Grossman’s two-run double and Max Kepler’s single that drove in another run.
But unlike Minnesota’s 9-6 victory on Friday, a comeback was not in the works. The Orioles tagged Minnesota relievers Tyler Duffey and Trevor Hildenberger for four additional runs in the fifth to secure the victory.
“I thought he got into a little bit better rhythm. We got back in the game, and it was just a matter of … I was one hitter away a couple of times of either getting somebody up or getting somebody in,” said Molitor of Gibson.
“I thought the third and fourth innings were what you hoped to see from Kyle. You pound the zone, and you get the ball on the ground, and we make plays.”
Zack Granite was the silver lining once again. He made a spectacular catch in center field, in a ballpark he’s only played in twice, and did not look overmatched at the plate.
“He looked really comfortable,” said Molitor. “His at-bats were good, he did make a really nice play to go that far and time it and deal with the sun and everything else. First day really out in center field in our ballpark, so you kinda learn the territory.
“But yeah, it was good to see him get a chance to play. I thought he battled really well, and of course he made an outstanding play.”
The Twins head into the break with a 45-43 record, three games back of the Cleveland Indians for the AL Central lead. They begin the second half with three games at the Houston Astros and against the New York Yankees at home.
“I think it will help recharge the batteries and they’ll come back fresh,” Molitor said of the break. “We all know we got a tough opponent right out of the gate, they kinda put an exclamation point on that first half.
“Today I saw they missed an extra point or something,” he added, referring to the Astros 19-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays today, “but we know what they did here, and we’ll probably get away from thinking about that until we get on that plane Thursday night.”
