Max Kepler's leadoff home run traveled 390 feet, and Brent Rooker's blast on the next pitch soared even further, 436 feet. And after that? The Twins went absolutely nowhere.
Jaime Barria and two Angels relievers shook off the worst possible start and limited the Twins to two singles over the rest of Sunday's game, Shohei Ohtani crushed a tiebreaking home run onto the right-field plaza, and the Angels inflicted a third loss in four days, 6-2 at Target Field.
There were scattered boos from the announced crowd of 23,158 during the Twins' 100th game and 58th loss, a few for a Miguel Sano strikeout here, a couple for a Willians Astudillo popup there. But the most vociferous booing by far rained down when Rocco Baldelli ordered Ohtani intentionally walked in his final plate appearance, perhaps reflecting a little bloodlust by fans wanting to see baseball's biggest lion devour their meek-as-lambs team one more time.
Or maybe they were just thirsty for action after an afternoon of indolence by the home team.
"I don't think I have" ever seen home fans boo a strategy like that, Angels manager Joe Maddon said. "I was booing too, but it was the right move by Rocco."
Maybe so, but the game sure felt out of reach by that time, given the Twins' toothless, Nelson Cruz-less batting order. Four starters on Sunday own batting averages below .200 and two more are at .220 for the season, and the game reflected that level of proficiency. After the back-to-back home runs to start matters, no Twins batter ever advanced as far as second base again — this coming a day after they were no-hit into the ninth inning by Los Angeles lefthander Patrick Sandoval.
"We have a lineup out there, a lot of young players again," Baldelli said as his team solidified its hold on last place. "This is a winnable game. We got beat. We got outplayed."
Barria, a 25-year-old righthander who had given up seven runs in six innings in his two previous appearances for the Angels this year, pitched seven mostly spotless innings while striking out four, though Baldelli didn't sound particularly impressed, not with the way the Twins failed to attack him.