Twins' season teetering now after being outclassed by Astros

The public was permitted to attend a Twins' home playoff game last Tuesday for the first time since 2019. The tickets available on secondary sites such as StubHub were running as low as a few bucks for remote seats.

These bargains seemed to have caught the attention of the 30-and-under crowd and the Twins were able to announce a sellout of 38,450 for the wild-card opener vs. Toronto.

One week later, the Twins were home again, for Game 3 of an AL Division Series vs. Houston, and ticket prices were inflated by several times over retail on those same sites.

That a medium level of postseason success allowed the Twins to gain such zealous backing within one week ranks among the more surprising turns performed by Minnesota's sporting public in recent times.

And, if you still have that faith after Tuesday's abomination, check those secondary sites again Wednesday morning. Ticket prices for resale should be much more reasonable.

The Houston Astros, defending champions, participants in four of the last six World Series, gave the Twins a lesson in big-fella baseball Tuesday and strutted out of Target Field with a 9-1 victory.

In the process, the Astros became the first collection of hitters to unload more than one home run in a game off Sonny Gray in his 58th start in two seasons with the Twins.

Gray turns 34 next month, is coming off a hellacious and healthy second year in Minnesota, and headed for free agency. Which means, unless the Twins win two straight over the mighty 'Stros, the next bow Sonny's likely to take at Target Field will be as an opponent.

On Tuesday, Alex Kirilloff's misplay at first put Gray in a two-on, one-out situation in the first, Sonny gave up an RBI single to the outstanding Kyle Tucker, and then committed a pitching sin that was first revealed to me by the original Twins baseball man, Calvin Griffith, decades ago:

"Don't throw a breaking ball strike to an old hitter.''

José Abreu, 36, not productive in his first Astros' season until September, accepted the favor of an 83 mph slider in the middle of the plate.

He swatted it into the second deck — 442 feet — for a three-run home run. And eight minutes into the game, the Twins' backs were against the wall (although, for left fielder Matt Wallner, it was more a couple of courtesy steps toward the fence and a look upward at Abreu's blast).

Wallner had the same task in the ninth, when Abreu hit a two-run home run in almost the same place (440 feet) off Bailey Ober to make this an official beatdown. That put his career home run total at 30 vs. the Twins.

Later, Abreu came to a postgame interview room and it was mentioned he had been "up in this second deck'' previously at Target Field.

"I remember,'' he said with his smile, and then returned to answering through his Spanish interpreter and said:

"I'm extremely grateful to be with this ballclub,'' and who could blame him when his previous team, the White Sox, spent the season losing 101 games in the mighty AL Central.

As Abreu (two), Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman were delivering four home runs, the bugaboos that made the Twins such a feeble hitting collection well into the summer returned.

Houston starter Cristian Javier's first five outs were strikeouts, and the Twins had 14 for the game. No surprise this made them hapless in RBI situations.

You remember this team before the All-Star break, the one where you turned on the telecast and said, "Gosh, I sure hope our Twins don't have the bases loaded.''

There they were in the fifth, when it was 5-0 and Javier walked the bases loaded with one out. Then, he struck out Max Kepler and Royce Lewis to end the Twins' last hint of making it a game.

"Javier got in some trouble,'' Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "We had to make a decision on whether to leave him in or go to somebody else.

"He can smell a victory, or he can smell when I'm about to take him out.''

Baker's long search for a World Series title came to an end last season, and now MLB's grandfatherly philosopher is back for another attempt.

His rival manager, Rocco Baldelli, suggested the Twins had been pitching Alvarez well, even as he reached six extra-base hits in 12 at-bats in the series.

"… They did pitch him well, but if you can hit, you can hit,'' Baker said.

Alvarez had a home run and two doubles. The Twins had a double and two singles.

A few guys could hit Tuesday, and none were Twins.