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.”