MINNEAPOLIS -- When your offense is struggling, the margin of error between victory and defeat becomes precariously thin. The Twins learned that lesson the hard way on Friday night after a poor three-batter stretch in the eighth inning turned a one-run lead into a 3-2 loss to the Nationals at Target Field.
Tyler Mahle turned in his best start as a Twin and Joey Gallo continued his impressive start to the season with his fifth homer and a pair of walks. But it went for naught when the Nationals put together three straight hits with two outs in the eighth inning, leaving a Minnesota team that seemingly had been cruising to victory continuing to search for answers.
“You have to have better at-bats and you’ve got to score some runs,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I mean, honestly, that’s the only way around that. We’ve piled on some runs in a few games and they’ve come in bunches, but when it’s not going great you’ve got to make it go good and find a way to just …
“Like I said, every at-bat is not going to be a great at-bat, but we have to have a few more for sure.”
The Twins managed just six hits and hit into three double plays, including a back-breaker in the ninth inning. With one out and the potential tying and winning runs on first and second, Jose Miranda hit into a 5-4-3 double play for the second time in the game. Ryan Jeffers did the same thing in that situation in the seventh inning.
In the end, it spelled more frustration for Minnesota, which has been held under three runs seven times so far this season.
The winning rally started after Twins reliever Griffin Jax got two quick outs in the eighth. CJ Abrams followed with a grounder to the left side of the infield, but third baseman Miranda was playing far off the line and the ball rolled into short left field. The speedy Abrams hustled to second base, and he scored the tying run on Lane Thomas’ flare that fell in front of Trevor Larnach in left.
Thomas then advanced to second when Larnach’s throw sailed between home and first base. That proved pivotal when Thomas was able to trot home on Keibert Ruiz’s go-ahead single to left, a third straight soft hit that accounted for two runs.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened,” Baldelli said of Larnach’s errant delivery. “Obviously, he didn’t throw the ball where he was planning to throw the ball. It ended up being an easy extra base for them to take.”
The quick flip of the script wasted what could be a breakthrough of sorts for Mahle. The right-hander pitched into the seventh inning for the first time as a Twin and he was absolutely dominant for the first six innings, allowing just two harmless singles to go with no walks and four strikeouts.
And Mahle kept the game moving, which his fielders surely appreciated on a night when the game-time temperature was 37 degrees.
“I just tried to get early contact, knowing the ball’s not going to be flying everywhere and guys were going to be cold, and swings weren’t going to be as hard,” Mahle said.
With one out in the seventh, however, he fell behind Joey Meneses, 2-0, and Mahle ended up leaving a fastball out over the plate. Meneses deposited it into the bullpen in left field and Mahle was removed with a 2-1 lead.
“To me it kind of overshadows the whole outing for me, in my eyes,” Mahle said of the homer. “Going into the seventh inning, you’ve got to attack guys, get ahead of guys.”
But it’s hard to blame the loss on the pitching, as Baldelli summed it up succinctly:
“It’s tough to win when you put up two [runs].”