CLEVELAND – The Twins are playing so badly right now, they are going to get somebody hurt.
Whether from baseballs screaming into the bleachers at 110 miles per hour, or ricocheting off opponents' helmets at 99 mph, it's a wonder nobody had to be hospitalized after another ugly Twins loss, this one 7-4 to Cleveland.
The only real damage, it seems, is the continual harm done to their record, which now stands at 7-15 after their 13th loss in 15 games, and to their psyche, which manager Rocco Baldelli tried to treat in an impromptu team meeting after the latest loss.
"The point of the conversation was, the fact that I think our guys have played hard. And it's been about as tough a stretch as I've ever seen in professional baseball," Baldelli said. "The way we've played these games, we've had our guts ripped out over and over again, is what I said."
Cleveland did some ripping this time. Kenta Maeda surrendered six extra-base hits, including three mammoth home runs, and then the Twins' embattled bullpen somehow made things worse.
Defrocked closer Alex Colome bounced a 95-mph cutter off the bill of Josh Naylor's helmet, then walked three hitters to force in a run. When Jorge Alcala finally relieved him, the young righthander forced in another run by beaning Jordan Luplow with a 99-mph fastball.
That basically ended the Twins' chances, on a night in which their offense did a reasonable job of staying close without the benefit of facing Twins pitching.
"When you have guys go out there playing hard, and we're playing tight ballgames, and we're keeping ourselves in these games, and continually it hasn't ended the way that we wanted it to, that's very tough on these guys," Baldelli said. "And we all feel it in our stomachs. It's hard to just ignore."
