Kyle Gibson tossed 7 1/3 solid innings and the bullpen did the rest as the Minnesota Twins topped the playoff-bound Oakland A’s 5-1 on Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough to completely erase the bad vibes.
No, we’re not talking about the fact that the Minnesota Vikings were pantsed on their home field on Sunday; instead, the Twins dropped the series after suffering back-to-back walk-off losses on Friday and Saturday in what has become a microcosm of the season to date: one step forward, but after two steps back.
This also pushed the team’s total of walk-off losses to 15 on the season — tying the club’s dubious record set back in 1964.
On Friday, it was Khris Davis providing the legwork for the A’s win. His homer to center in the 10th inning off Trevor Hildenberger helped complete the comeback in a game where the A’s took a 4-0 lead, blew it in the sixth, re-tied the game in the bottom half of that inning and then dealt the Twins the crushing blow to cap a wild night.
Jose Berrios took the ball to start the game for the Twins, and he wasn’t immune to Davis’ power, as he gave up a long ball in the first inning to put his team behind the 8-ball, 2-0.
In all, Berrios was tagged with five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings, fanning eight batters while walking three. The other runs came on sac flies from Jonathan Lucroy and Marcus Semien, as well as Stephen Piscotty scoring on a Mark Canha homer after Berrios departed in the sixth.
That homer came against Gabriel Moya, and re-tied the game at six after the Twins pushed across all six of their runs in the top half of the sixth. Red-hot Robbie Grossman opened the scoring for the Twins with a two-run homer, with doubles from Ehire Adrianza and Jorge Polanco giving the Twins a brief 6-4 advantage.
Davis’ second homer of the game was his 45th of the season — a career- and MLB-high mark — as he continues another strange quest. Davis finished the series hitting .249 on the season, and he’s hit exactly .247 in each of the last three seasons.
Will he make it four? There’s only one way to find out.
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Saturday night’s loss was arguably more crushing, as Hildenberger was again on the mound — this time uncorking a walk-off wild pitch on the way to a crushing 3-2 loss.
Chase De Jong pitched respectably in 4.1 innings, allowing just two earned runs with one walk and zero strikeouts. In fact, not only did De Jong not strike anyone out — he didn’t even induce a swinging strike in his 58 pitches.
It was a little bit of everyone the rest of the way, as Andrew Vasquez, Oliver Drake, Zack Littell, Tyler Duffey and Taylor Rogers combined for 3.2 innings of shutout ball before the game ended with the wild pitch that plated Piscotty. The quintet combined for three strikeouts, one walk and just two hits allowed as the Twins and A’s again jockeyed for the lead all evening long.
Joe Mauer’s sac fly scored Willians Astudillo to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the third, but a Semien homer in the fifth off De Jong gave the lead back. Astudillo singled home Adrianza in the seventh to knot the game at two runs apiece, and in the ninth, Hildenberger faced five batters but recorded just two outs.
And maybe that’s the most frustrating part of all — the walk-off wild pitch came with two outs.
As it stood, it was just another gray-hair inducing day at the ballpark for the local nine.
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Sunday afternoon saw Gibson get back to doing some of the things that have made this a breakout season for the 30-year-old righty. Despite only getting three strikeouts, Gibson induced 14 swinging strikes on 114 pitches, with 13 of the 19 balls in play against him on the ground.
Duffey, Moya and Trevor May picked up the slack the rest of the way, with May picking up the save with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with two strikeouts and a walk. May turned 29 on Sunday.
Jake Cave opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first off A’s starter Trevor Cahill. The A’s clawed back with a solo homer from Matt Olson in the second, but that was it on the day for the potent Oakland offense.
Max Kepler drilled an RBI single to get things underway in the top of the fourth, with an Adrianza double and a Chris Gimenez sac fly capping the scoring for the day as neither team scored over the final five frames.
In all, it was a terrific day for Adrianza:
The win capped the road season for the Twins, who now head home to close out the season with the Detroit Tigers (three games) and Chicago White Sox (four games, including a Friday doubleheader).
Oh, and by the way — Littell won the final leg of the Twins Triple Crown:
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Notes
- Here are the probable pitchers for the upcoming Tigers series (barring any changes with openers).
- Tuesday: Spencer Turnbull vs. Kohl Stewart
- Wednesday: Matthew Boyd vs. RHP Jake Odorizzi
- Thursday: Francisco Liriano vs. LHP Stephen Gonsalves
- The Twins finished their road portion of the schedule with a 29-52 record — the same mark they had in 1987 when they won the World Series.
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