Pressing bats falter in finale loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND -- The weather’s getting plenty warm now, but the offense that was promised has still not arrived.

In fact, the bats sank even further in a three-game series against the Guardians. On Sunday, Cal Quantrill and his 4.73 ERA held the Twins hitless into the seventh inning, and only the newly healthy Alex Kirilloff prevented a no-hitter by singling for the Twins’ only hit in a punchless 2-0 loss at Progressive Field, capping a 2-4 road trip through Cleveland and Chicago.

“I think there’s a few guys that don’t feel comfortable with the strike zone right now, and which pitches to attack or which areas of the plate they’re trying to really look towards,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We have a handful of guys that are -- whether it’s up, down, left, right, they’re swinging, as opposed to having a really confined idea of what they want.”

Though the lineup showed some life with much better plate appearances last homestand, the patience and selectivity have again faltered in an inability to stick with game plans -- which has manifested in several ways.

In Friday’s series opener, rookie Peyton Battenfield retired the first 17 Twins in order before a late Max Kepler homer led the Twins to victory. Earlier on the road trip, they went 5-for-27 with runners in scoring position in a series loss to the White Sox.

And on Sunday, they had a chance to break through in the second inning against Quantrill, who loaded the bases to begin the frame on a hit-by-pitch and two walks, but Jose Miranda popped up to shortstop on a pitch up and in, and Nick Gordon grounded into an inning-ending double play. The Twins didn’t have another baserunner until Kirilloff’s two-out single in the seventh.

“We’ve got to do better,” Baldelli said. “We’ve got to swing at better pitches. We’ve got to find a way to find the barrel.”

Going back two weeks, Baldelli pointed out that several hitters were getting away from their game plans, perhaps trying to do too much to snap out of individual funks. Miranda, for instance, is mired in a 3-for-24 skid, while Joey Gallo is in an 0-for-23 slump (though he has walked six times).

And that’s not to mention another slow start to the year from Carlos Correa, who carries a .649 OPS but has been hitting the ball harder of late following a mechanical adjustment to quiet his swing earlier in the road trip.

“It’s kind of all related to pressing a little bit,” hitting coach David Popkins said. “When guys are pressing, it’s like they have the right plan, but they want to get it done so bad. They want to hit it so good, they expand out of the zone. A lot of it is reminding them of their approach. … ‘What are you hunting up there?’ Turning them to a more attack mindset than a reactive mindset.”

All of that has, once again, led to a more homer-reliant offense, as in seasons past, which Baldelli acknowledged likely shouldn’t be this offense’s identity. Though they spent Spring Training speaking of more aggressive baserunning and forcing the action more against opposing pitchers, the Twins have relied on the long ball to score 49.3% of their runs, the highest mark in the AL.

“Our team has been hitting the ball over the fence when we do hit the ball,” Baldelli said. “That might be a little bit of how we’re built, like the skillsets of the players. That can happen at times. I’m not surprised to see that at times. But the consistency of at-bats, they have to be better too.”

It’s not like the Twins haven’t been hitting the ball hard; they entered the game sixth in the Majors in both hard-hit rate and barrel rate, and in the eighth, Correa crushed a ball at 110.5 mph with a runner on third that happened to soar directly to center fielder Myles Straw.

One of these days, the Twins are hopeful that one of those balls finding a gap will take the pressure off, and guys will stop feeling the need to expand the zone and do too much. Having Kirilloff back will help, as will getting Kyle Farmer back next homestand.

“Baseball is the one sport where the harder you try, it doesn’t really help you,” Popkins said. “It’s actually better to relax and keep playing the game, and eventually everything works out.”