CLEVELAND – Josh Donaldson did his best Lou Brown impression ahead of Saturday's game.
Twins allow walkoff homer in 10th, fall to 0-8 in extra innings
Winless run was extended on a two-run homer in the 10th.
May 23, 2021 at 3:14AM
He quoted a not-so-motivating speech from the fictional Cleveland manager in "Major League II": "Winning two in a row helps. If we win one more, that's called a winning streak."
The overly obvious quip was meant to make audiences laugh. Coming from the Twins, though, it just feels sad.
After a blowout 10-0 victory Friday at Progressive Field, the Twins petered out against real-life Cleveland, losing 5-3 Saturday in 10 innings via Cesar Hernandez's walk-off home run.
The Twins have not won a single extra-inning game this season, going 0-for-8. They have scored only once with the free runner placed on second base, on April 21 against Oakland with Byron Buxton's two-run homer that still didn't results in a win.
Luis Arraez, as the Twins' automatic runner on second Saturday, made it only as far as third base after a wild pitch. A line out from Donaldson and strikeouts by Max Kepler and Miguel Sano left the Twins scoreless in the 10th, an all-too-common occurrence.
"We had a chance to win. We're in another extra-inning affair. We haven't had, obviously, much luck in those situations," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We haven't really played well once we've gotten to that point in the game, and other teams have certainly had some big hits and just made it happen once we got to that spot. And [Saturday] was another example of that."
Actually, it was a fairly eerie replay. Cleveland had already beaten the Twins in 10 innings at Progressive Field on April 26. Tied 3-3 then, the Twins couldn't do anything with their three at-bats, leaving Jordan Luplow to slap a fly ball to deep left field for a two-run homer that also scored Hernandez.
Alexander Colome was the Twin pitching then and now, giving up Hernandez's winning drive to right on his second pitch.
Colome, signed before this season as a closer, combusted to start the year but had begun to chip away at his 8.31 ERA after the first month. In May, he had allowed just two hits in seven scoreless outings.
But Saturday was a return to bad form.
"Alex has worked his way back, and he's been throwing the ball great lately," Baldelli said. "… As far as this particular instance, I don't know. I just assume it's a pitch he wants back."
The Twins will try to win the series Sunday and begin to rebuild that elusive winning streak. The line Donaldson referenced states, "It has happened before," the character stressing he felt a turnaround coming despite a run of poor performances.
But again, coming from this team, it sounds more like the Twins are resigned to their same fate: even more familiar losses.
High-profile victims in Minnesota include Timberwolf Mike Conley and Twins co-owner Jim Pohlad.
