CLEVELAND -- Maybe getting to Boston will help. Maybe just seeing the ground of northeast Ohio get farther and farther away from the airplane window will help. It’s fair to say that a flight to almost anywhere from Cleveland will feel good to the Twins.
Minnesota lost its 12th consecutive one-run game at Progressive Field on Thursday, 4-3 to the Guardians, when Angel Martínez singled home José Ramírez with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Twins had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force extra innings, and took a lead in the top of the 10th, before losing for the third straight day to drop the four-game series.
“Seems to happen a lot at this stadium,” said Carlos Correa, who went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The defeat came despite the Twins outhitting the Guardians, 13-6. It came despite two seemingly fortuitously timed rain delays that limited Cleveland’s options in deploying an already taxed bullpen. It came after the Twins loaded the bases in both the seventh and eighth innings, and got a leadoff single in the ninth.
Minnesota allowed 10 runs in the final three games of the series, and lost all three. The Twins outscored the home team, 17-11, over the four-game series, and lost three out of four.
“I don't get down coming here or playing these types of games,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “The Guardians push you in different ways. That's well discussed over the years, in the way that they play and the way they pitch and make plays in the field. They play a certain brand of baseball and you end up in those types of games.”
The loss came despite Cole Sands ending a recent slump and getting four big outs, despite Louie Varland and Griffin Jax looking dominant, and despite Jhoan Duran escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a pair of strikeouts in the ninth. It followed Simeon Woods Richardson repeatedly evading trouble through his 4 2/3 innings, limiting Cleveland to two runs even though he walked five.
It came despite Kyle Manzardo dropping a pickoff throw that likely would’ve had Harrison Bader for the second out of the 10th inning. Bader was caught stealing, but the missed out did allow Jonah Bride to come up with a sacrifice fly to briefly put the Twins ahead.
It came because somehow, some way, it always seems to happen this way at this place.
Mostly on Thursday, it happened because the Twins simply could not convert offensive opportunities into runs. They went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners over 10 innings. They were unable to score from a second-and-third, no-out chance in the second, a leadoff double in the fourth, and a one-out double followed by two walks in the eighth.
They simply could not figure out how to get that one key hit.
“If I had that answer we'd be scoring a lot more runs,” said Ty France, who had three more hits on Thursday. “I don't know. We had [13] hits today. I don't think we really did anything wrong. Unfortunately, that's how it's going.”
Dating back to the start of the 2022 season, Minnesota is 1-15 in games decided by two runs or fewer at Progressive Field. The Twins haven’t won a one-run game in Cleveland since August of 2020. The Guardians’ eight walk-off wins against the Twins are the most of any team versus any other team in MLB since the start of ’22.
“It was definitely a weird day,” Correa said, “but it just seems like we keep falling short playing here. We know they’ve got a great team, and we know every time we come here there’s going to be close games. We’re failing to play just good enough to close them out and get the win. I don’t think we’re playing terrible baseball. I think we’re right there. but we’ve got to figure out a way to get those Ws.”