MINNEAPOLIS -- In the closest thing to a must-win game they’ve had all year, the Twins showed their trademark fight but just didn’t have enough.
The Guardians rallied for three runs against Yoendrys Gómez in the top of the ninth to send Minnesota to a 5-2 defeat on Friday in the opener of a vital three-game series at Target Field. The loss dropped the Twins 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the final American League Wild Card spot, with only two head-to-head games remaining between the two division rivals.
“It’s always tough, division opponents, and with the Wild Card stuff and how it’s lined up,” said starter Taj Bradley, who pitched six scoreless innings. “But, yeah, just go out and play a game [Saturday], and try and win and win the series. Yeah, we lost this one, but there’s two more games; we’ll win the series and come out on top.”
For the second straight game, walks proved costly for the Twins. Bradley issued four free passes, including three leadoff walks. And though none of those walks turned into runs against him, they did run up his pitch count and create higher-stress innings, leading to him being removed after six.
Gómez, meanwhile, issued a leadoff walk in the ninth and then loaded the bases with a one-out walk before issuing a wild pitch that brought home the go-ahead run. Brayan Rocchio’s two-run double then broke the game open.
“As we’ve talked about, we cannot give up free passes,” said manager Derek Shelton. “Not just us, but any team, can’t give up free passes. And when we do, whether it’s Taj at the beginning and then he has to navigate around it, or when it happens later in the game and then it leads to an inning starting and continuing to go, it’s very frustrating.”
Twins pitchers issued six walks on the night, after walking eight on Wednesday in Detroit. Since moving into Wild Card position on Aug. 19 following a sweep of the Braves, Minnesota has lost 13 out of 19, putting its playoff chances in dire jeopardy.
Bradley did all he could over six innings. Besides the walks, he allowed only one hit and no runs, striking out six and holding a 1-0 lead when he was removed from the game. But Cleveland rallied against the Twins’ bullpen, and though Minnesota tied the score in the seventh inning, it could not regain the lead.
A.J. Minter, who had been brilliant since his acquisition from the Mets, had his first hiccup as a Twin behind Bradley. He permitted a leadoff single in the seventh, then missed his spot with a fastball to Angel Martínez, who hit a two-run homer to put the Guardians ahead for the first time.
The math is getting very difficult for the Twins. They have 15 games remaining. Four teams also stand between them and the Guardians, and Minnesota only has one series against those four teams combined -- at home in the regular season’s final weekend against Texas. The Twins are done playing Toronto, Baltimore and Seattle.
“Every game is essential now,” said Minter. “We've got to win every game, especially against that team right there who's ahead of us. Come out and hopefully ... we've got to win this series. This is do or die. We know that. We know where we stand and we've just got to take it one game at a time and see if we can do something special.”