Twins

Walk-Offs Will Haunt: The Twins Walk-Off Count is Up to Five After Loss to White Sox

Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

The goofy little ghost that appeared on the Metrodome’s old black-and-white screen, and made the move to Target Field’s nicer displays when the team moved there in 2010, has a conversation bubble that says “Walks Will Haunt.”

Well, if that 8-bit phantom ever appears in another stadium this year, it would say “Walk-Offs Will Haunt.”

Add it to the list of ones that have been tough to swallow,” said manager Paul Molitor after he saw the Twins blow a 5-1 fourth inning lead and lose to the Chicago White Sox on a Trayce Thompson homer in the bottom of the ninth.

“You try to begin to find a way to dig yourself out of the hole that we’ve created and you get a lead like that, you want to win those games.”

The Twins are 2-5 in one-run games this season, all five losses are walk-offs. Those five walk-off losses are one short of the most ever through 27 games. The All-Time record for walk-off losses in a season is 16; Minnesota is on pace for 30.

“You can feel the energy when it gets sucked out,” said Molitor.

“[We had] a nice little vibe going on there, we got a couple of nice hits. [Starter] Jake [Odorizzi] was throwing the ball well and Palka’s homer and next thing you know you’re looking at a tie game. It challenges you to find a way.”

Odorizzi was quick to take the blame for the loss. He gave up two runs in the fourth to make it 5-3, then one run in both the fifth and the sixth before being removed with the score tied 5-5.

“It was probably one of the more frustrating ones because I take pride in keeping in a lead,” he said. “to give it back twice, it’s the most frustrated I’ve been from a pitching standpoint. You’re supposed to keep the lead and I didn’t do my job. The bullpen did its job today. So it falls squarely on my shoulders.”

Reed said it was on him, however, since he gave up the walk-off home run to Thompson, who is the younger brother of Golden State Warriors player Klay Thompson.

“It wasn’t where I wanted to throw it,” said Reed. “Just trying to stay on the outer third, and it tailed back in to the inner third. He did what you’re supposed to do with it. A good pitch to hit, and I kind of put myself in that situation.”

Daniel Palka, the player who hit the two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, is a former Twins prospect who was received in the Chris Herrmann trade and lost on the waiver wire.

“I think the game kind of boiled down to one pitch and it was the home run to [Palka] in the fourth inning,” said Odorizzi. “It’s 5-1 at that point. Anything less than a home run, we keep that momentum. We just took that lead. To give it back and make it a two-run deficit instead four is a huge difference.”

Jose Abreu walked to lead off the sixth, and scored on a Robbie Grossman error in right field. Grossman went hard after Matt Davidson’s double, crashed into the wall and then had trouble picking up the ball to toss it into the infield.

“I was like one step short,” said Grossman. “What made the play even worse, I missed on the first time I grabbed it.”

The ball was hit hard,” said Molitor. “I don’t know what percent the catch is on that ball but it had a lot of tail on it. Kind of reached one way and it was coming back over. It’s one of those things where you can’t look to where you’re going to throw it until you pick it up. I think you’re not going to get a good grip.”

In addition to culpability, the common refrain the clubhouse after the game was that they can, and will, move on from this game quickly — just as they moved on from the 10th inning fiasco against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday to win 4-0 on Wednesday before departing on this 10-game road trip.

“I take full credit for [the loss],” said Reed, “but tomorrow’s a new day.”

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