Late miscue wastes Odorizzi's start in makeup

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jake Odorizzi battled inclement weather and a gritty Mariners offense to turn in one of his best outings of the season on Monday night. But it ended as a no-decision and a 1-0 Twins loss at Target Field.
Odorizzi tossed six scoreless innings and struck out seven batters to lower his ERA to 3.35, but Seattle prevailed after tallying a late run off of Minnesota's bullpen. The game was played as a makeup of the April 8 matchup between the two clubs that was wiped out by snow. With its victory, Seattle clinched a 2-1 series win.

Originally slated to begin at 6:10 p.m. CT, Monday's game was delayed by one hour and 42 minutes due to rain. Odorizzi came out strong, though, and struck out three of the first seven batters he faced. He has now surrendered three earned runs or fewer in each of his last four outings.
"He's been throwing the ball well," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "There's no doubt about that. We just couldn't give him any run support."

Odorizzi worked his way out of numerous jams on the night, stranding Ben Gamel at second after he smashed a leadoff double in the third. In the fifth, he allowed another leadoff double, this time to Ryon Healy, but escaped the jam when Ehire Adrianza made a tremendous running catch while ranging back into shallow center field.
"Had a lot of great defensive plays behind me," Odorizzi said. "Adrianza made that great play to end the fifth inning. Just had one of those days where guys were making plays and I was just doing my best to do my job."

Mariners starter Wade LeBlanc matched Odorizzi pitch-for-pitch and didn't allow a Minnesota batter to get farther than first base over six innings. He ended the night with four strikeouts and no walks, limiting Minnesota's hard contact; only Joe Mauer and Logan Morrison hit balls with an exit velocity greater than 100 mph, according to Statcast™, off LeBlanc.
"The story for us was we just couldn't find a way to get anything going off LeBlanc," Molitor said. "He had us off-balance and his cutter was giving us a lot of trouble, both lefties and righties. … Tough way to lose a game."

The Mariners finally broke the scoreless standoff when Dee Gordon cracked a leadoff double against Trevor Hildenberger in the eighth. Gordon scored soon after when Jean Segura laid down a sacrifice bunt and Morrison's throw to first sailed down the right-field line.
"[Segura] was showing early, so I was trying to get in there and get the out at third," Morrison said. "Dee's obviously really fast and I didn't have a chance there. [Catcher Mitch] Garver said 'one,' and I went to reset my feet and just threw it away. Obviously a routine play that you've got to make, and I didn't make it."

Hildenberger fought his way out of the jam to keep the score at 1-0, but the Mariners' bullpen ensured that a Twins comeback was not in the cards. James Pazos, Nick Vincent and Edwin Díaz each threw an inning to finish off the game.
In the ninth, Diaz struck out Brian Dozier, Max Kepler and Eduardo Escobar to sit down the heart of Minnesota's lineup in order and notch his American League-leading 14th save of the season.

HE SAID IT
"It got me right in the backside. That's good aim by him; I don't have a very big target back there, but he managed to get me." -- Odorizzi, on Kyle Seager's liner that struck him in the fifth inning

Airing grievances
Robbie Grossman was ejected after the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire D.J. Reyburn. Reyburn called Grossman out looking for the second out, and Grossman was later ejected from the game and replaced in left field by Eddie Rosario in the sixth.
"[Grossman] was letting him know he wasn't happy with the calls," Molitor said.
UP NEXT
The Twins will begin a two-game home set with the Cardinals at 7:10 p.m. CT on Tuesday. José Berríos will get the start for Minnesota, hoping to break out of a recent skid. He owns an ERA of 8.84 over his last four starts and has been struggling with curveball command. Berrios will face off with St. Louis' Jack Flaherty (0-1, 3.60 ERA).