Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers foul tipped a Josh Hader fastball into the glove of Brewers catcher Omar Narvaez to cap a 6-2 Twins loss at Target Field and the crowd went … wild?
Twins pitching digs a hole for team as Brewers avoid sweep with 6-2 win
Rookie Griffin Jax had a second straight rocky start as the Twins keep looking at whether some of their younger players with play a part in the team's future.
August 30, 2021 at 9:41AM
Such was the presence of Brewers fans throughout the three-game series between the Twins and Brewers, with the NL Central-leading Brewers staving off a sweep with their win Sunday.
Those fans finally had something to cheer about against the Twins, as Luis Urias and Rowdy Tellez homered off Griffin Jax, who allowed six runs in his eighth start of the season.
Before the game, manager Rocco Baldelli re-emphasized that the Twins "didn't throw the ball the way we needed to this year."
As such, the last few weeks can be an open audition for anyone in the Twins system to claim a spot, especially since Kenta Maeda is set to have surgery on Wednesday, and if he must undergo Tommy John surgery, he could be out all of 2022.
"Fastball command was great, where I want it to be," Jax said. "It's something I have to keep establishing to get results up here. But the slider, I had issues with from the start and when I don't have my best pitch, results like today happen."
Over five starts from July 19 to Aug. 16, Jax had allowed eight earned runs in 26 ⅓ innings. His last two starts haven't been as productive. He allowed six runs Sunday with a Kolten Wong two-run double capping Milwaukee's scoring for the day in the fourth. This start came after a nine-run outing against Boston on Tuesday.
"His stuff has been ticking up in a good way but along with that has been a little bit of command issues. It looked like some of those sliders were popping out and not competitive pitches," Baldelli said. "He's a guy that actually does have pretty good feel for what he's doing and his walk rates are above where they should be. It gives us something to spend some time on and think about."
Tellez parked a changeup from Jax 454 feet in the upper deck in right-center on a blast that came after Jax had retired the first two batters of the inning before getting into trouble. Christian Yelich doubled and Narvaez walked preceding Tellez's homer.
As it pertains to his spot in the Twins' future plans, Jax said he's trying not to think too far into that future, as tempting as that may be.
"It would be kind of silly of me to not recognize the fact that there will be some more openings in the future, especially with the injury to Kenta and not knowing what's going to happen there," Jax said. "I just try to focus on what I need to focus on every single day, get my work in for that day and just work on that mentality aspect of it. If I focus too largely on the far-term future, I'm just going to put myself in a bad spot."
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Miguel Sano provided the lone offense for the Twins with a two-run homer in the fourth as he continued his solid hitting of late. But that was the only threat the Twins generated all day behind Jax, who tried to make it work as best he could without an effective slider.
"I'm working towards being able to put it all together so that whether it's my next start or a couple down the road, it's going to be lights out," Jax said.
Gerrit Cole gave up his opt-out right on Monday and will remain with the New York Yankees under a contract that runs through 2028 rather than become a free agent.
