From lumber to slumber: Twins' bats quiet again in 5-0 loss to Tigers

DETROIT — One look at the Twins' lineup — sans key hitters such as Byron Buxton, Luis Arraez and Carlos Correa — was all it took to infer Wednesday's game was probably not going to end well.

So when the Twins lost 5-0 at Detroit in 2 hours, 13 minutes, it felt somewhat inevitable.

Tigers lefthander Tarik Skubal shut down the Twins' hitters, allowing only two hits and one walk with six strikeouts through his seven innings. Stretching back to the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader, the Twins have not scored in 20 consecutive innings and have posted only six hits in that span.

The drought comes amid a grueling schedule of 18 games in 17 days. The Twins have lost six of their past nine games and now stand at 30-22. But they still hold the lead in the American League Central, by five games.

Buxton was absent from Wednesday's outing after playing in both games of Tuesday's doubleheader. Correa is currently unavailable after coming down with COVID. Arraez, despite his team-best .351 batting average, isn't historically as successful against lefties. And Max Kepler, though he tallied three hits and a walk as the designated hitter in the first game Tuesday, was on the bench Wednesday as he eased back from a quad injury.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said without some of those big names in the batting order, "of course" there is a different feel to the team.

"We're going to have to string a few hits together and get some baserunners," Baldelli said. "Really, we're just shooting for baserunners. That's always the goal, but especially right now. You hope you get a big hit and make something happen. When a guy is throwing the ball the way [Skubal's] throwing it, it makes it real tough. He didn't make life easy on us. He didn't give us really any freebies."

But Wednesday was not the first time the Twins' offense has stuttered. The team has been inconsistent all year, seemingly stacking up bunches of home runs in one game only to blank the next. Baldelli agreed that assessment is "accurate" and "fair," even though he is overall pleased with the efforts.

"We talk about everyone needing to step up when the time comes: We're at one of those points right now," Baldelli said. "We need guys to come in because Correa's out, and Buck's not there every day. [Gilberto] Celestino was getting on base for us all the time, and he's been out as well [with COVID]."

Baldelli also pointed to the pitching, a group that is also bearing the weight of several prime absences, including starters Joe Ryan, who has COVID, and Sonny Gray, who is dealing with an injury.

Bailey Ober started Wednesday and kept the game close for four innings. A leadoff double that turned into a run was the only damage in the first inning, and he held the Tigers scoreless for the next three. But the fifth was a doozy, where he coughed up five hits and four runs.

"I left too many off-speed [pitches] over the middle of the plate instead of putting them away or on the outer half of the zone," Ober said. "... They ended up getting hit, and that's what happens up here."

He pitched one more clean inning before Trevor Megill retired the Tigers in order in the eighth and ninth. In all, Ober matched a career high with five runs allowed and set a new career mark for the nine hits Detroit collected off him.

Baldelli, Ober and lefty-hitting specialist Kyle Garlick all admitted the Twins are feeling this arduous stretch. And it's about to become even more taxing. The Twins have one more game in Detroit on Thursday — a series in which they trail 3-1 — before traveling to Toronto for a weekend stay. But a handful of players will not be available because they cannot cross into Canada if they are unvaccinated for COVID.

"It's not really going our way right now," Garlick said. "… It is a long stretch of games. I think we're feeling it a little bit, a little fatigued. But just try to get through this."

But Garlick pointed out there is an oasis ahead amid this dry spell: Monday.

"We have an off-day coming up soon," Garlick said. "And you know we're going to enjoy that."