The Minnesota Twins had lost eight straight games since returning from Puerto Rico on April 20 before beating the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 on Saturday. After winning a 16-inning affair with the Cleveland Indians, they’ve not only been swept by the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees, but they’re also engaged in a war of attrition with their personnel — especially the bullpen.
One reliever entered through the media entrance today, and had to ask for directions, explaining that he hasn’t been around in a while. David Hale was claimed off waivers from the Yankees after pitching for New York in their 14-1 win over the Twins, then was promptly designated for assignment after giving up four runs in three innings.
Matt Magill, who was called up Saturday, showed up with a suitcase bearing the Cincinnati Reds logo on it that he received on his last major league stop.
The Twins opponent that day? The Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s kind of funny,” said Magill, who pitched for the Dodgers in 2013 and the Reds in 2016. “I had a Reds suitcase when I rolled in here because that was the suitcase they gave me. I was like, ‘I’m going to turn this away to the wall and make sure no one thinks this is on the wrong side. What are the chances?’”
Forgive the patched together relief corps — if you’re able to — for being a bit out of sorts. Target Field can be tough to navigate if you haven’t been there in a while.
Hale switched dugouts in the middle of a Yankees-Twins series. And Magill found out he was getting the call at midnight and grabbed the first suitcase he could find so he was ready for his 8:00 a.m. flight from Syracuse to Minneapolis. It’s been a bit chaotic in the Twins clubhouse as they searched for their first win in well over a week.
“Well, obviously what we tried to do this winter is try to protect us [from] getting ourselves into too many of those times throughout the year where we had to be in a little bit of a scramble mode,” said manager Paul Molitor. “But it didn’t take long, even with all the depth and people we’ve tried to protect ourselves with, we’ve still run into a little bit of situation where we’re having to search.
“It’s just kind of how it’s worked out.”
It is why Molitor was quick to credit Jake Odorizzi for the six innings he gave the Twins in his start on Saturday.
“We’ve been looking for good starts and for guys to get us deeper,” said Molitor. “He did a nice job in New York and to get one today, his pitch count was down. He started searching a little bit there a couple innings, but he kept finding ways to get out of it.
“It feels good to win a game,” he continued. “It’s hard. Sometimes these things, you build momentum in the wrong direction, and you have to find a way to stymie it. It’s only one game but it’s nice to have that streak behind us.”
“Overall just to get a win feels good,” said Odorizzi. “It’s a tough stretch, definitely. I’ve been in worse, but it’s still April and when you have these stretches in April it’s a lot better than having them in August or September. There’s plenty of time to make up for what we did in the stretch, but we still have a lot of confidence.
“Our motto is that you have to keep continuing to act like a first-place team. You can’t waver just because a couple of games don’t go your way. We got walked off three times on the road trip. That’s not going to happen all the time, so keep your confidence level up and keep playing.”
Molitor is well aware that a nine-game losing streak to start the 2016 season set the tone for the rest of the year, his second as a manager. They won the next four after the initial losing streak, but won only four games between April 19 and May 13 and finished the year with 103 losses after the team won 83 games and was in contention until the final weekend the year before.
The Twins are hoping the same thing doesn’t happen this year.
Minnesota won 85 games last season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2010, and many experts had them winning 80-plus games this year and competing for a Wild Card spot again. The idea was that they had supplemented a young core of players and could feast on three teams in the division that are expected to be among the worst in the American League — the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.
But none of that matters if this recent losing streak had derailed the season in April.
“Obviously we saw a couple of years ago what can happen — you can get buried early,” Molitor said at his Opening Day press conference. “We’re more prepared to handle a start that wouldn’t be particularly good, just by our understanding of how long a major league baseball season is.”
We’re about to learn how prepared they are.
It’s not just the bullpen, either.
Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton are already battling injuries. Ervin Santana, who may be the best pitcher on the staff, has yet to make a start for the team. And, perhaps most concerning, a lot of the team’s free agent signings have not panned out yet. Entering the weekend, Logan Morrison was hitting .134/.227/.239. Fernando Rodney has a 6.75 ERA and just blew a save against the Yankees, Zach Duke owns a 5.87 ERA and starter Lance Lynn is at 7.71.
The circumstances are also different this season. The young core is older and should be less prone to a meltdown. The losing streak didn’t come immediately at the start of the year. And the four men with corner lockers — Joe Mauer, Phil Hughes, Santana and Rodney — and a few other veterans like Brian Dozier, Lynn and Morrison can provide leadership and offer a perspective that comes with major league tenure.
“Leadership helps, guys that can provide perspective. To endure a long losing streak, and we’re getting to that stage where we need to find a way to win a game, and try to reverse this negative momentum that we’ve had to fight through here the last eight days.
“But yeah, it’s staying in the moment. Understanding that the games that are gone are gone, and somehow try to find the way to have the energy to go out there and carry yourself the right way each and every day. Don’t let your guard down, because the game will come back to bite you.”
It did in the final game of Yankees series, when the Twins had a 3-1 lead in the ninth before Rodney gave up a three-run homer to Gary Sanchez — his third blown save in five chances. Minnesota had a 5-1 lead on Friday, but were done in by, among other things, a six-run fifth inning. Two of the three games against Tampa Bay were winnable.
“Kept my confidence in myself,” said Rodney. “Tried to find the strike zone to try to convince these guys to swing and tried to get this guy out.
“I’ve got good feeling for all my pitches,” he added. “I’ve been feeling a little bit quick in my mechanics. That’s the only bad thing I’ve been feeling, but I’ve been feeling good with all my pitches. Sometimes when I think I’m not feeling that I can throw something I don’t throw it. But I have all the grips for all my pitches.”
Against Cincinnati, they finally broke through.
“I don’t think anybody was panicking too hard about it,” said Mitch Garver, who caught Odorizzi and had a double and a home run in the win over Cincinnati. “Obviously things weren’t going our way for a while there and it’ll catch up to you. A three-game losing streak turns into eight and all of a sudden you’re knocking on the door to get that first win.
“That was a big win for us.”
