On May 5, 2021, Alexander Colomé made his only multi-inning appearance in a 3-1 Minnesota Twins loss to the Texas Rangers. He didn’t factor into the decision, and his two scoreless innings dropped his ERA from 7.45 to 6.17. By then, Colomé was no longer Minnesota’s closer. Three blown saves or leads and an 8.31 ERA in April will cost any pitcher that spot.
The Twins had signed Colomé as a free agent that offseason after two successful seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He also had a successful run with the Tampa Bay Rays from 2013 to 2018 before that, including an All-Star appearance in 2016. Colomé had a 0.81 ERA in the abbreviated 2020 season, and Minnesota was excited to snatch him from their AL Central rivals. Rocco Baldelli had known him from their time together in Tampa.
But it couldn’t have gone worse early in the season. The Twins entered 2021 with World Series aspirations; their season was over in May. Colomé finished the season with a 4.15 ERA, the Colorado Rockies signed him last year, and then he ended up back on the South Side this season. So, it only would have been fitting if Minnesota had capitalized on Nick Gordon’s home run off Colomé in the eighth inning of Game 1. But they didn’t. Gordon tied it 2-2, but the Twins lost the game in extras.
Chicago took Game 2, 6-4, after Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and Trevor Larnach couldn’t drive in a run with the bases loaded with no outs, and the game tied 4-4 in the seventh inning. However, the Twins avoided the sweep by tagging – who else? – Colomé for five runs in the bottom of the 12th inning. Minnesota heads to Cleveland 18-14, first place in the AL Central. The White Sox are 10-22, fourth ahead of the Kansas City Royals. For comparison’s sake, the 2021 Twins were 11-18 after losing to Texas on May 5. Chicago is in trouble. But it’s hard not to feel like Minnesota missed an opportunity to bury its bitter rival.
The White Sox had lost ten games in a row, and 12 of 13, before coming back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 12-9 the game before Minnesota came to town. Andrew Vaughn capped a seven-run ninth inning with a three-run homer to win it. So they were riding a bit of a high. But 10 straight losses is pretty miserable. Two days before, the umpires ejected Chicago manager Pedro Grifol in the first inning. It was the second game in a row that he’d been tossed. Things were coming apart early for one of the favorites in the division.
Minnesota traveled to the South Side with the White Sox on their deathbed, clinging to a single spike on their heart monitor. Instead of smothering them with a pillow, they acted as a defibrillator. Chicago’s extra-innings win gave them a little jolt. Escaping the second game with a win might give them a little sense of invincibility. Perhaps the 7-3 12th-inning loss is devastating enough to send them back into their misery. But the Pale Hose travel to Cincinnati and Kansas City for two winnable series. The Twins gave them a little sign of life. Is it enough to allow them back into the race to win baseball’s worse division?
It’s three games in May, but the Twins need to do what they can to rack up wins in the Central. They play fewer division games this year and face stiff competition in the AL East. The Rays have only lost six games, and the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox have a better record than Minnesota. All five teams in the AL East have a winning record; every Central team but the Twins has a losing record. Winning the Central isn’t enough to break the playoff curse this year. Minnesota has to hold itself to a higher standard.
We’ll see what they do in Cleveland, but the Twins can’t come home satisfied that they’re leading the division. They should. They have a good rotation, a potent – albeit late-rising – lineup, and remnants of their winning teams. But winning the Central won’t equate to winning a playoff series. Minnesota has to act as though they’re in the East. They won’t miss the playoffs if they can’t pass Tampa in the division. Nobody is likely to. But losing to a struggling White Sox team won’t help them catch the O’s or Red Sox. An 18-14 record ties them with the Toronto Blue Jays. It puts them one place ahead of the fifth-place New York Yankees.
To break their playoff losing streak, the Twins have to hold themselves to a separate standard. Losing a series to the White Sox won’t doom the season. But they can’t focus solely on winning the division to get into the postseason. Furthermore, they can’t give Chicago hope. Three-team races are fun, but they can create a false perception that a team is battle-tested when Minnesota may only be staving off two mediocre teams. How they perceive themselves will affect how they act at the deadline and how playoff-ready they are. It’s hard not to live in your own reality, but it’s essential that the Twins don’t.
They had an opportunity to capitalize on the momentum of Gordon’s home run in the first game and didn’t. They had the bases loaded, no outs, and the middle of the order up in the second game and didn’t score. We will soon forget most of what happened in this series. Most of it is inconsequential. But it will come back to haunt them if the White Sox capitalize on their trip to Cincinnati and Kansas City, and suddenly the Twins have to compete with a team that’s come back from the dead.
