The Twins brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning Wednesday, but it's rare to win games when collecting 10 fewer hits than the opponent.
Twins lose 9-5 to Tigers as pitchers lose command, last-gasp rally fizzles
Twins pitchers Bailey Ober and Jordan Balazovic combined to give up 17 hits with manager Rocco Baldelli noting shortcomings at the plate and in the field, where errors aided Detroit rallies early and late.
August 10, 2023 at 11:19AM
Carlos Correa, who homered in the second inning, struck out with the bases loaded to seal a 9-5 loss, the Twins' second straight defeat to the Tigers at Comerica Park. Detroit racked up 17 hits against Twins pitchers Bailey Ober and Jordan Balazovic. It was the second-most hits Twins pitchers allowed in a game this season.
Ober was responsible for 11 hits, matching a season high, and five runs in five innings. He went 10 consecutive starts without giving up more than three earned runs before it happened twice in his past three outings.
"The last three outings, I've felt great," Ober told reporters in Detroit. "I've felt probably the best I've felt since spring training and it's probably been my toughest three outings of the entire year, so it's a little frustrating."
With a fastball that drew whiff after whiff at the top of the strike zone, Ober struck out a season-best nine batters. The key to his outing, really, was whether a Tigers batter could put the ball in fair territory. Ober recorded nine of his 15 outs via strikeout, and the Tigers turned 65% of the balls they put into play against him into hits.
"When he got the ball where he wanted, most of the time that was out of the zone and up, he got the swings and misses," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "But you can't pitch out of the zone and up the whole game."
The Twins lead in the AL Central remained at 4 1⁄2 games because Toronto defeated Cleveland 1-0. Detroit trails the Twins by eight games.
Ober required 68 pitches to make it through the third inning. Pitching with a one-run lead in the second inning, he surrendered four hits. Riley Greene hit a jamshot RBI single into shallow center field and Matt Vierling followed with an RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Three of the four second-inning hits came in two-strike counts, and the Twins trailed for the remainder of the night.
The Twins totaled seven hits and left eight on base. After Matt Wallner scored on a double from Willi Castro in the sixth inning, cutting their deficit to one run, Kyle Farmer struck out with two runners in scoring position.
A single and two walks loaded the bases in the top of the ninth for the heart of the lineup. Max Kepler, who allowed a run to score when a ball rolled under his glove for an error in the first inning, lined an RBI single into left field before Correa struck out as Jose Cisnero earned his second save of the season.
"Offensively, pitching-wise, defensively, we kind of got outplayed today when you look at it," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Spencer Torkelson led off the fifth inning with a solo homer, the second home run off Ober's changeup this year, and homered again to begin the seventh inning against Balazovic. The Tigers scored their last two runs on a wild pitch and an error.
The Twins knocked Tigers righthander Alex Faedo out of the game after 4 ⅔ innings with a three-run second inning. After Correa homered to center, Ryan Jeffers ended an eight-pitch at-bat with a double to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Joey Gallo rewarded Jeffers with a missile over the right field fence for a two-run homer, the ball jumping off his bat at 110 mph.
Gallo's homer, just his second hit this month, gave the Twins a 3-2 lead. The lead lasted five batters.
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
Shohei Ohtani won his third Most Valuable Player Award and first in the National League, and Aaron Judge earned his second American League honor on Thursday.
