MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins needed a quality start, and they got one. The problem was, Simeon Woods Richardson didn’t get any help whatsoever.
Minnesota was held to four hits and committed multiple defensive missteps that led to runs scoring, as the Brewers hammered Minnesota at Target Field for the second straight day, 9-0. The Twins have lost eight of their past nine and 12 out of 15. They’ve lost four of their past five home games, each by at least nine runs, and have dropped five straight series.
Woods Richardson was charged with four runs, three earned, all of them in the first two innings. But he deserved better, as plays weren’t made behind him in both Brewers rallies against him. That was actually true all afternoon. In every inning in which Milwaukee scored, at least one run resulted from an error or a defensive play not made.
“You want to sum it up in one word, it’s embarrassing,” said Ryan Jeffers, who committed a throwing error that brought home the Brewers' first run. “We’re big league ballplayers and we’re not playing like a big league ball club. We can’t expect to win baseball games and play like that, all around.
“That’s all facets. That’s defense, pitching, hitting, baserunning, everything. I wish there was an easy way to say it, like, ‘We’ll be better tomorrow.’ We’re going to try. We’re not going out there trying to play embarrassing baseball, but that is what is happening right now.”
It’s hard to pin a 9-0 loss on any one facet, but it’s also hard to look away from the defensive foibles. It started when Jeffers threw a ball into center field on a double-steal attempt in the first inning, allowing the lead runner to score.
An inning later, with runners on first and second and no outs, Joey Ortiz hit a soft grounder to third base that should have gone for at least one out, if not two (though Ortiz is speedy). Jonah Bride threw to second but not in time, and the Brewers had bases loaded. A one-out sacrifice fly and a two-out RBI single made it 4-0.
Woods Richardson settled in, getting through the next four innings without another run, but the game was never really in doubt after the early rally.
“You can’t control what goes on behind you once you release that baseball,” Woods Richardson said. “We have a hell of a team. Most of our pitchers, every pitcher has confidence when we play the field. So when those things happen and come up like that, you just have to shrug it off and keep going. It’s part of the game. it’s not who they are.”
There were unfortunately two more miscues to come. Harrison Bader committed an error on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, and in the ninth a ball fell between Bader, Carlos Correa and third baseman Brooks Lee. Both led directly to runs off of reliever Cole Sands.
“This hasn’t been an ongoing theme all year long, but today we gave them extra outs,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “’Sim’ dealt with it later on in the game, Cole had a couple of outs that we’re normally just going to have. Because of that, things spiraled and some of those runs ended up scoring. The game’s always going to feel different when it’s 2-0 and you’re in the middle of the game. At that point you get a baserunner, one swing and you’re tied, you’re right in there.
“Obviously, we can’t live on what ifs, we have to make it happen ourselves. We got to make plays. We got to want the ball hit to us, we got to want to be up there with the guy on base to get the job done. Sometimes it takes one inning or one game to get everyone turned around and things moving in the right direction, but we’re looking for it right now and we got to work for it. It’s not just going to happen. We know we have to put in the time and energy and preparation and then get it done when the lights come on.”