CLEVELAND – The Twins are playing so badly right now, they are going to get somebody hurt.
Twins pitching yields home runs, loses control in latest night of misery
Kenta Maeda gave up three homers and Alexander Colome walked three batters and hit another among the six batters he faced in the 7-4 loss to Cleveland
April 28, 2021 at 11:25AM
Whether from baseballs screaming into the bleachers at 110 miles per hour, or ricocheting off opponents' helmets at 99 mph, it's a wonder nobody had to be hospitalized after another ugly Twins loss, this one 7-4 to Cleveland.
The only real damage, it seems, is the continual harm done to their record, which now stands at 7-15 after their 13th loss in 15 games, and to their psyche, which manager Rocco Baldelli tried to treat in an impromptu team meeting after the latest loss.
"The point of the conversation was, the fact that I think our guys have played hard. And it's been about as tough a stretch as I've ever seen in professional baseball," Baldelli said. "The way we've played these games, we've had our guts ripped out over and over again, is what I said."
Cleveland did some ripping this time. Kenta Maeda surrendered six extra-base hits, including three mammoth home runs, and then the Twins' embattled bullpen somehow made things worse.
Defrocked closer Alex Colome bounced a 95-mph cutter off the bill of Josh Naylor's helmet, then walked three hitters to force in a run. When Jorge Alcala finally relieved him, the young righthander forced in another run by beaning Jordan Luplow with a 99-mph fastball.
That basically ended the Twins' chances, on a night in which their offense did a reasonable job of staying close without the benefit of facing Twins pitching.
"When you have guys go out there playing hard, and we're playing tight ballgames, and we're keeping ourselves in these games, and continually it hasn't ended the way that we wanted it to, that's very tough on these guys," Baldelli said. "And we all feel it in our stomachs. It's hard to just ignore."
The last time the Twins started the season 7-15, in fact, was in 2016, a dismal season that resulted in Terry Ryan's firing as general manager and the hiring of Derek Falvey to run the team. Only in 2012, when they opened 6-16, have the Twins started the season worse than this one.
"It's not just the wins and losses, it's the way these games have played out that has made them especially tough to stomach," Baldelli said. "When that happens, that's when the team needs to be brought together and discuss things as a group. And that's what we did."
He didn't mention any solutions, but he is convinced that the team will right itself eventually.
If he's looking for signs that a turnaround is coming, c'mon, could anything be more startling than a Nelson Cruz triple? But the Twins squandered even that.
Cruz, dropped into the cleanup spot to allow Byron Buxton to bat third and hopefully be better able to use his speed without the slow slugger on base ahead of him, responded to the move with his first three-bagger as a Twin, hustling to third as Naylor chased a ball that bounced off the right-field wall.
Nelson's teams were 10-3 in his career when he tripled, and this one drove in Buxton.
Cruz scored twice on the night, and Buxton homered, too. The Twins even managed four runs for only the second time in nine games.
But they were no match for Cleveland, which battered Maeda with long solo home runs by Jose Ramirez and two by Franmil Reyes. They also doubled three times, with Ramirez and Jake Bauers driving in runs.
"When Kenta has missed, the hitters have been there," Baldelli said ruefully of a pitcher who has not resembled the Cy Young runner-up of a year ago.
"I think his stuff is the same. It's good. It's more execution than anything else."
High-profile victims in Minnesota include Timberwolf Mike Conley and Twins co-owner Jim Pohlad.
