They played Prince's "Sometimes it Snows in April" on a 37-degree Friday night at Target Field, where Twins second baseman Jorge Polanco made his season debut and runs were hard to create in a 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals.
Nationals rally to defeat Twins 3-2 at chilly target Field
The Nationals scored twice in the eighth inning off reliever Griffin Jax, wasting a solid outing by starter Tyler Mahle.
April 22, 2023 at 5:12AM
The Twins scored their only runs in the third inning, while the lowly Nationals found one in the seventh and two opportunistic ones in the eighth to hand the Twins their fifth loss in six games as they opened a 10-game homestand to finish out April.
Tyler Mahle went into the seventh inning for the first time with the Twins and gave up only three hits, but one was designated hitter Joey Meneses' seventh-inning solo home run that turned the momentum. He was the last hitter Mahle faced on a frigid night for baseball.
"I felt good, I didn't feel cold, which was a plus," Mahle said. "I knew the fielders were cold. They're just standing there. But I was able to stay warm. I had a pretty good game."
Caleb Thielbar got the Twins to the eighth, but Griffin Jax gave up three hits with two outs and nobody on that produced the tying and winning runs in such weather.
"Our bullpen probably wasn't as sharp as we'd normally like to see," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We were fairly effective. Even Jax who gave up the runs, those balls aren't hit good, but they battled. When you put the ball in play and use the whole field, things can work out for you."
Baldelli called the cold conditions "as you assume."
"But they're consistent, both teams are dealing with the same things," he said. "No excuses out there. You know there's going to be a different brand of baseball being played. It's not going to be a high-flying affair with balls flying all over the place and tons of runs on the board. We know that.
"But it's tough to win when you put up two."
Joey Gallo's fifth homer this season, leading off the third inning, gave the Twins a 1-0 lead. Ryan Jeffers followed with a double, was sacrificed to third by Michael A. Taylor and came home on a Max Kepler sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead that ultimately didn't last.
"We have nobody but ourselves to really look at for the loss," Baldelli said. "We're putting a lot of pressure on our pitching staff. They're throwing the ball pretty good overall. We have to do a better job. We have to find ways to get a few more base runners on and find the way when they're out there to bring a few more of them home."
Polanco made his season debut, batting fifth in Baldelli's order and singling in his first at-bat after he missed the first season's first 19 games because of left knee inflammation.
He flew out to left field in the fourth inning, ground out to second in the seventh and lined out to shortstop with nobody out after Byron Buxton had singled and Trevor Larnach walked to start the ninth. Jose Miranda followed with a third-to-second-to-first double play to end the game.
Before Friday's game, Polanco answered a reporter who welcomed him back to the big leagues by saying four times rapidly, "Thank you."
"Muy excited," he said. "I'm really excited to be back with the major league club again. I'm just happy to be here."
Said Baldelli: "He looked good, moved around good. He's out there. It's 30-something [degrees]. He held up well during the game. I didn't see him stiffening up or anything like that. He looks good. His at-bats also were pretty good. He laid off some tough pitches, got a hit. I think he looked like the guy out there who's ready to play."
Major League Baseball switched a pair of series involving the Tampa Bay Rays to the first two months of the season in an attempt to avoid summer rain at open-air Steinbrenner Field, their temporary home following damage to Tropicana Field.
