Twins

Sergio Romo After Giving Up 5-3 Lead to Brewers: “I Ain’t Gonna Lie, it Hurts”

Photo credit: Jeff Hanisch (USA Today Sports)

MILWAUKEE — Sergio Romo was emotional after the Minnesota Twins 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Not because pinch-hitter Ryan Braun had reached on a Jorge Polanco error to start the inning. Not because Hernan Perez reached on a soft single.

No, he was emotional because he felt he left his teammates down by letting the next batter, rookie Trent Grisham, hit his second-ever home run to score both players and put the Brewers ahead.

“You have to tip your cap to the kid, because he seemed ready and prepared,” said Romo. “Just tried to make good pitches and pitch to my strengths and I just missed. Go figure, I missed.

“I don’t like to make a lot of mistakes. I know that I can’t make too many mistakes, because the mistakes I make with the situation that I’m privileged to be pitching in, they’re loud. They’re loud. It hurts. I ain’t gonna lie, it hurts. I made quality pitches and just one today wasn’t.”

There were positives that came out of this game. Mitch Garver and Eddie Rosario homered off of Gio Gonzalez to put the Twins ahead early. Sam Dyson and Trevor May pitched well in relief before Romo took the mound. Minnesota had the bases loaded in the top of the 9th inning after Polanco, Miguel Sano and Rosario drew two-out walks off of Matt Albers.

But they came up short.

“Any time you don’t make the plays and you can look at that as maybe a reason why you end up not winning the game, of course you end up thinking about it,” said Rocco Baldelli. “Nothing wrong with thinking about it after the game. You have to wipe the slate clean at some point.

“Hopefully before the next game, get ready to go and ready to play. Polo has been very steady. His throwing has been good. He’s been accurate, he’s been on target. The new arm stroke this year has done wonders for him and (Wednesday) was just a tough one.”

Minnesota remains a half game up on the Cleveland Indians, and there’s no shame in splitting two close, hard-fought games against the Brewers. Milwaukee was playing at home and are in a three-way race for first place in the NL Central, and there are a lot of teams competing for a Wild Card spot in the NL.

But every game matters at this point, and the bullpen — like many relievers around the league — will be under scrutiny.

Romo, who won three World Series rings with the San Francisco Giants, knows this better than anyone on the Twins roster. He’s a veteran leader on a young team looking to win their division for the first time since Target Field opened.

“I was just telling them know that, we played well today,” said Romo. “We could have came out with a win today. Those guys are good, too. They’re in the heat of things for a reason. Mistakes against a team like that are loud. They’re there for a reason. He we are just trying to be ourselves and trying to keep that in mind. Yeah, we can mash. We’re going to hit some homers, but we can pitch too, when we need to.”

Romo didn’t say that this one loss isn’t something to be worried about because it doesn’t matter to him. It does. He says it because the Brewers are a good team and Grisham is a good young player. And because it’s just one game.

Twins
Minnesota’s New Relievers Have Intriguing Breaking Ball Offerings
By Lou Hennessy - Mar 16, 2024
Twins
Griffin Jax Is Ready To Become Minnesota’s Next Elite Arm
By CJ Baumgartner - Mar 13, 2024
Twins

Why Are So Many Twins Pitchers Throwing Gyro Sliders?

Photo credit: Jeff Hanisch (USA Today Sports)

The Minnesota Twins are starting an organizational trend. Much like the sweeper last season and the splitter this season, pitchers add or tweak pitches to fit league-wide […]

Continue Reading