Urgency ratcheting up for Twins in do-or-die stretch

CHICAGO -- For days, if not weeks, the Twins had this 15-game stretch of the schedule circled. Five straight series against American League Central opponents, all teams that as of a couple of weeks ago were in contention, loomed as potentially season-defining.

It is threatening to be exactly that, in the wrong way.

An ugly 10-1 loss to the White Sox at Rate Field on Sunday put the Twins at 4-5 through the first three of the five highlighted series. With a chance to win a series against the division leaders, instead Minnesota issued 10 walks, struck out 15 times at the plate and fell another game back in the postseason chase.

“We didn’t play great,” said manager Derek Shelton. “I mean, really, there’s no way to cut around it.”

Minnesota gets Joe Ryan back on Monday in Detroit, and the Wild Card-leading Guardians come to Target Field next weekend, so nothing is over yet. And as more than one player noted, this is a team that has consistently turned the page well. But the odds are getting longer, and the urgency is turned up to 11.

The best news may be that they’ll be back at the ballpark in about 15 hours, for a Labor Day matinee against the fading Tigers.

“I’m happy there’s not an off-day tomorrow,” said Luke Keaschall, who went 0-for-3. “I’m happy we’re playing tomorrow, get a chance to get back in the win column, put some good at-bats up. We’ve got a good lineup. I’m not worried about us tomorrow. We’re going to figure out a way to hit tomorrow.”

The Twins now trail Cleveland by 4 1/2 games for the final American League Wild Card spot, with three other teams to pass before they would catch the Guardians. They have three head-to-head matchups remaining with Cleveland, and three total against the other three teams -- a home series on the season’s final weekend against Texas. They do not play Baltimore or Toronto again. Minnesota trails Chicago by seven games in the division with no remaining head-to-head meetings.

That’s not insurmountable. But the opportunities to gain ground are drying up.

“It’s just go and play tomorrow,” said starter Bailey Ober. “We can’t get lost in all that right now. Obviously, we aren’t playing as good as we need to be, but the only way to get through is handle business each day. We just have to get out there tomorrow, have some fire, go out there and play good baseball.”

Sunday’s loss was a frustrating one. Minnesota batters could do little against a White Sox bullpen game, managing a total of four hits and one walk against 15 strikeouts. Rookie Hagen Smith in particular was dominant, with three perfect innings.

Ober had better stuff than in some recent games -- despite issuing three walks and facing baserunners in every inning -- and kept the game very much in play for his 4 1/3 innings. The Twins' relief corps did not do the same, with five relievers all allowing at least one run and four of them issuing at least one walk.

“We’ve got to get right back out there because we just didn’t play good today,” Shelton said. “In all facets of the game. I thought Bailey threw the ball OK, but other than that, we can’t give up runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth, and multiple runs in [two] of them. And then offensively we didn’t get on track.”