Twins make spirited comeback vs. Braves but fall apart in 10th for another loss

You’ll never guess, especially if you’ve waved your phone flashlight when the lights go off and the crowd roars at Target Field, which pitcher is tied for the most losses on the pitching staff this year.

Jhoan Duran, one of the most automatic game-savers in the majors over the past two seasons, continued an inexplicable pattern on Tuesday, allowing four runs in the 10th inning to allow the Braves to escape with an 8-6 victory, the Twins’ seventh loss in their last nine games. The loss leaves Minnesota 2¼ games behind both Kansas City and Cleveland, which are tied atop the American League Central.

Duran faced six batters in the 10th inning and gave up two doubles and two singles, good for four Atlanta runs, two of them earned. Marcell Ozuna led off with a double to the wall that center fielder Austin Martin couldn’t quite reach, though courtesy runner Jarred Kelenic held up at third. He didn’t score until Edouard Julien fielded Matt Olson’s grounder and threw to home plate too high for catcher Ryan Jeffers to tag Kelenic in time.

But the Braves padded that lead with three more runs, dropping Duran to 6-8 on the season. That ties the righthander with Pablo López for the team lead in setbacks.

“I’m a pitcher, and sometimes you can have a day like that. It’s not like every day you throw good, you know?” Duran said. “Mariano Rivera is one of the best closers in the game. He had one bad year. Why can’t I have one?”

The thing is, he’s not having a bad year — he’s having a terrific year when he’s protecting a lead.

It’s such an odd phenomenon: Duran is 48-for-52 in save opportunities over the past two seasons, and his ERA in his 20 opportunities this year is an incredible 1.45. But if there is no save on the line, Duran now owns a 5.18 ERA, allowing 14 earned runs in 24⅓ innings.

“A guy with his stuff, and with how much success he’s had, why it’s different in those situations — everybody wishes we could put a finger on why,” Jeffers said. “But he’s our guy, we know how gross he can be. Sometimes there are just funky outings like that.”

Duran might have had a save to protect this time, but the Twins left nine runners on base through the first six innings. Not until they trailed 4-0 did the Twins offense, which outhit the Braves 14-11, do any damage.

Though they came close. With runners on second and third in the fourth inning, Jeffers hit a line drive that appeared headed for center field. But it glanced off Brave starter Spencer Schwellenbach’s glove and popped into the air, allowing second baseman Whit Merrifield to catch it.

“We probably tie the game right there if that ball doesn’t deflect off his glove. It’s baseball,” Jeffers shrugged. “We can’t fret too long on silly, freakish plays like that.”

The real rally began with four consecutive hits to open the seventh inning. Willi Castro singled and scored from first base when Trevor Larnach’s hit to deep left-center skipped past Kelenic, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement in left field.

Larnach scored easily on Matt Wallner’s single to right — the Twins’ first hit with runners in scoring position — and after Joe Jiménez replaced Jesse Chavez on the mound, Wallner raced around the bases to score on Julien’s double, pulling the Twins within a run and giving them three chances to tie the game with a hit.

But Royce Lewis popped up and Max Kepler and Carlos Santana each struck out swinging, ending the threat.

They tried again an inning later and were successful under remarkable conditions. The rally started after two quick outs, followed by Castro’s double to deep right. Braves manager Brian Snitker summoned Raisel Iglesias, a human rally-killer, from the bullpen. Iglesias had held hitters to an .073 average (3-for-41) with runners on second or third this year — but Larnach lifted a fly ball to left that Kelenic unsuccessfully dove for, scoring Castro with the tying run.

And even when the Braves scored four off Duran, the Twins didn’t give up. Three straight two-out singles by Jose Miranda, Castro and Larnach gave them a chance at a miracle victory. But Wallner missed a 2-2 curveball, striking out to end the game.

“The way every game matters as much as they matter right now, you don’t want to put a ton of pressure on every pitch, every play. Just because there’s still a month left. There’s still a lot of time, there’s still a lot of games,” Jeffers said. “But as the season comes toward the end, there’s a lot more pressure on everything that happens.”