Baldelli on Twins' skid: 'We demand more of ourselves'

ATLANTA -- Minnesota is at a flashpoint moment. With the club halfway through the season, it is feeling the pressure to execute, especially with the American League Central race tightening up.

The tension reached its limit after the Twins’ 3-0 loss to the Braves on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park. It’s Minnesota’s second time being swept this year, dropping the club into a tie with Cleveland for first place in the division. After the game, the Twins had a players-only meeting, and manager Rocco Baldelli spoke candidly about his team’s performance.

“ ... The truth of the matter is we were flat, and we made no adjustments in the game almost whatsoever,” Baldelli said. “And if you’re going to call a spade a spade and say how it is, that’s not good baseball.

“We got wiped this series by the team on the other side of the field. There’s no way we can walk out of this with any positives, to be honest with you, and that's the truth.”

The Twins were outscored 13-3 in the series, with each outing putting a microscope on the club’s strikeout and run-scoring woes. In the three games, Minnesota stranded 20 runners on base, hit 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position and struck out 31 times. The team increased its Major League lead in K’s with 14 strikeouts on Wednesday.

“We're losing games because we're striking out,” Baldelli said. “That's not the biggest part. That's one part of it. Not making adjustments at the plate. … We're playing against probably one of the best teams we've seen in a long time. So, that's kind of our measuring stick, in some ways, looking back on this series.”

Trouble began early for the Twins Wednesday when Matt Olson hit an RBI double in the first to give the Braves the lead. In the third, Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr. recorded back-to-back base hits. Their success set up Ozzie Albies’ sacrifice fly, which extended the lead to two. Olson sealed the game with a solo homer in the eighth.

Still, Minnesota had its chances to plate runners. In the fourth, Byron Buxton doubled and advanced to third on a Royce Lewis flyout. But Buxton was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice after Kyle Farmer grounded to third baseman Austin Riley.

With runners on first and second in the fifth, the Twins brushed aside another opportunity when three straight batters struck out. Baldelli said despite the scores being close against Atlanta in all three games, the lack of adjustments during the game wasn’t “good enough.”

“These guys work their [butts] off every day, but maybe we’ve got to work our [butts] off in a different way and have a different approach and a different mindset when we step out on the field,” he said. “Because really, what we’re doing right now is frustrating, because that’s madness -- going out there and doing the same stuff over and over and over again -- when we have guys that have shown, either for periods of time or for their whole careers, to be productive players.

“To be falling flat as a group right now, we demand more of ourselves than what we’re doing right now.”

Baldelli mentioned the team will make adjustments, but he did not specify what changes are coming. The lone bright spot for the Twins has been their starting pitching. Kenta Maeda returned from a right triceps strain in his last start against Detroit and logged eight strikeouts in five scoreless innings.

His outing against Atlanta was similarly strong. Facing one of MLB’s hottest teams, Maeda recorded four strikeouts and gave up two runs on five hits and two walks. His fastball velocity averaged 91 mph, which was the highest since April 4 against Miami.

“It was a good lineup, and he pitched well,” Baldelli said. “I thought he looked good. I thought he did all the things that we always expect out of him. I consider that a very solid start from him.”

Yet Maeda’s outing, similar to Sonny Gray’s start on Monday, was spoiled by the Twins’ lack of scoring. Baldelli hopes his comments will spark his team.

“We're not going to win unless we make adjustments at the plate and, ultimately, barrel a lot of balls and hit,” he said. “... I hope that helps our players, because saying something out loud, that's the truth, is normally the best way to acknowledge something, get over it and move on and do better.”