The Minnesota Twins insisted that they were “turning the calendar” and leaving their April woes behind them. But on the first day in the next chapter of this season, they suffered a slow, painful 7-4 defeat in extra innings against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“It’s tough. We talk about it. It can beat you up,” said manager Paul Molitor, visibly distraught after the game. “We’ve talked about being tested and adversity and all those things. This has been really challenging.
“For being May 1.”
An Eddie Rosario two-run homer put the Twins ahead 4-3 in the sixth inning and chased Toronto starter Marco Estrada. But Kendrys Morales, a former Twin who was added to the lineup after Steve Pearce was a late scratch, tied it up with his second home run of the night.
It was in the 10th inning, however, when things really unraveled.
Kevin Pillar led off the inning with a double off John Curtiss, a top-20 prospect via MLB.com who was called up on April 30 to help stabilize a weary bullpen.
Curtiss struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and intentionally walked Morales, then it all fell apart from there.
With Luke Maile at-bat, Kevin Pillar stole third without a throw from catcher Mitch Garver.
“We were trying to mix in slide steps and his times were getting slower, not faster,” said Molitor.
“We thought he’d try to let the hitter advance him with nobody out, and when you get to one out you could just see it coming. It looked like he was looking right at him when he was increasing his lead and getting momentum going. We were kind of yelling at him to step off and he pitched.”
Shortly thereafter, the 34-year old Morales stole second in an attempt to draw a throw from Garver to bring home Pillar.
“We had throw-through on,” said Molitor. “The pitch was tough to handle. My take is that by the time Mitch decided not to throw and the time it took to deliver the ball and Garver got it, that’s when Morales stopped. He just held onto the ball rather than let Pillar score backdoor.”
After the game, Toronto confirmed that it was a designed play to get Pillar to score from third.
Curtiss walked Maile. Aledmys Diaz, the No. 9 hitter, hit an RBI single. Pillar scored on a wild pitch shortly after, and Curtiss was replaced by Matt Magill, who also threw a wild pitch that scored Maile.
“Leadoff double,” Molitor said, summarizing the 10th inning.
“I know we got a base-stealer out there. Got into a situation there where we didn’t do enough to slow that. And he started to overthrow a little bit and spike the slider. It became challenging for him. Threw a couple wild pitches.”
Curtiss left the game with a 40.50 ERA and was optioned back down to the minors, where he has 17 strikeouts, two walks and a 2.89 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched at Triple-A Rochester.
“Our message is he’s done really well down there,” said Molitor.
“It hasn’t translated up here. I think he lets the moments get a little big. It’s having that little bit of moxie on the mound and trust and confidence. It shows up and then as we saw today, a little diversity and it dissipated a little bit.”
The Twins have lost 11 of their last 12 games, falling to 9-16 on the season.
“These nights are tough,” said Molitor.
“You’ve got to find a way to sort through it and replay it and mix in some rest if you can. Then come back as best you can and energize yourself and put together something you hope will work.
“I’m hoping my attitude is a little better in the morning than it is right now.”
The Twins are searching for a win.
The big picture is not looking great. It’s May 1.
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