Zebby Matthews allows nine earned runs, Twins throttled 15-0 by Blue Jays

The Twins trailed by a touchdown before the first inning was over on a somber Saturday night when they finally, mercifully lost 15-0 to Toronto at Target Field.

The Blue Jays hit four home runs — three of them two-run shots, including two in a row to start the game — and gave former Twins star José Berríos all the cushion he would need before his team made an out.

Toronto led 7-0 after the first inning, 9-0 after two and 11-0 after three. The Blue Jays chased Twins rookie Zebby Matthews from the game after two innings, replaced by a succession of relief help that totaled four by night’s end while manager Rocco Baldelli tried to minimize the burden on his bullpen.

“It’s obviously very frustrating,” Matthews said. “My job is to go out there and give the team the best chance to win, and I didn’t do that tonight.”

After the Twins got one inning of relief out of Michael Tonkin, three out of Scott Blewett and one out of Caleb Thielbar, infielder Kyle Farmer pitched the final two innings, lobbing the ball to the plate while giving up five hits and three runs. It was his second career pitching appearance, after he recorded four outs for Cincinnati against the Cubs in a game in 2019.

“What’s funny about it was that that Chicago Cubs team was a veteran team, and they were having fun with it,” Farmer recalled. “These guys are all young guys over there, and they were taking it pretty seriously.

“The plate looks a lot smaller from the mound than it does the batter’s box, and it’s a lonely spot on that mound. I felt like I was on an island out there by myself. But it was fun.”

Manager Rocco Baldelli noted that earlier this season, Willi Castro and Matt Wallner were the position players called on to eat innings late in blowouts. “We hadn’t done it with Farm yet,” Baldelli said. “What do you know, he can throw strikes at 37 miles per hour. That’s a skill very few people have. That was pretty impressive, the ability to just stand up there and throw strikes. He actually picked us up on a day we really needed it.

“Of anything that happened today, it’s probably the only real positive.”

Afterward, Farmer emerged from the back of the Twins clubhouse. What, no ice bag on his throwing shoulder?

“No, just a glass of bourbon,” he said. “Some of these pitchers might need a drink after a game like this. Just a glass of bourbon and no ice.”

It was the Twins’ worst loss by margin of defeat this season, and the 23 hits they gave up was also a season high. And it was also the second time in five games that the Twins trailed 9-0 in the second inning — they did that Monday night against Atlanta, too.

The Twins now lost nine of their past 12 games, falling to 2-6 on a nine-game homestand that ends Sunday. Saturday’s announced attendance was 30,517 on a gorgeous, late summer night.

Matthews had made his MLB debut with a 13-3 victory over Kansas City on August 13. He’s now 1-2 after his fourth MLB start, coming in a season when he made 18 appearances in three minor league levels.

Daulton Varsho hit a 419-foot smash to center field on a 2-2 Matthews fastball after George Springer was hit by a pitch leading off the game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. then singled to center and cleanup hitter Spencer Horwitz homered 381 feet to center field, on a 1-0 count.

Matthews finally recorded an out when Addison Barger struck out, but Toronto wasn’t done. Alejandro Kirk doubled to center. Will Wagner singled to left to put runners at the corners; Nathan Lukes hit a ground-rule double to make it 5-0; and Leo Jimenez capped the inning with a two-run single. Matthews finally got out of the inning by striking out Springer and Varsho; of the six outs he recorded, five were by strikeout.

Toronto tacked on two more runs in the second inning before Matthews was pulled. He threw 62 pitches in his two innings, giving up nine runs on 10 hits.

“I’ve got to learn,” Matthews said. “A lot of it is just how you respond. At the end of the day, I can’t go back out and change what happened tonight. But I can do better next time.”

An eighth-round pick out of Western Carolina in the 2022 draft, Matthews is ranked by MLB.com as the No. 5 prospect in the Twins organization and its top-ranked pitcher. He impressed in his previous outing last Sunday, when he gave up one run on four hits with no walks and a career-high seven strikeouts in five innings in a 3-2 home loss to St. Louis.

Meanwhile, Berríos kept right on throwing for the Blue Jays through six innings, giving up only three singles. He departed after throwing only 63 pitches albeit with a 12-run lead.