Tight games, extras continue to tax Twins

After a difficult series against the Pirates, the Twins’ offense showed the fight that it has needed all season late in Monday’s game against a tough Cleveland pitching staff.

But Luis Arraez’s two-out RBI single in the eighth inning still wasn’t quite enough after the Twins’ bullpen allowed another comeback victory to an opponent. The Twins’ late rally was immediately followed by José Ramírez’s game-tying homer off Tyler Duffey, and Jordan Luplow’s two-run blast off Alex Colomé in the 10th sent Cleveland to a 5-3, walk-off win over Minnesota, which has now dropped 12 of its past 14 games.

The Twins fell to 0-5 in extra innings this season.

“The number of extra-inning games and the number of these types of ballgames that we’ve played through the first 21 games is almost not believable,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I mean, it’s pretty crazy. … All of our ballgames are not going to play out like this, but when we do have them, we’ve got to know we can go out there and win these kinds of games.”

As the Twins’ offense continued its struggles with only six runs in three games vs. the Pirates, manager Rocco Baldelli said that his offense had shown flashes of success but needed to prove it could chain together several good at-bats on a more consistent basis.

That’s exactly what the Twins did in the eighth inning against Cleveland starter Zach Plesac, when Jake Cave led off with an infield single by punching a changeup to the left side of a shifted infield and was on the move when Andrelton Simmons hit a grounder, allowing him to reach second. With two outs, Arraez got a first-pitch fastball and slashed it down the left-field line, finally giving his team a needed late run.

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The Twins continue to be encouraged by improvement from their players lower in the lineup. Cave started that rally after he posted a .347 OPS through the first 17 games of the season, while Brent Rooker’s first home run of the season gave Minnesota its first lead and Alex Kirilloff notched his first career hit (in the regular season) with a double in the fourth.

“It's exactly what we need,” Baldelli said. “We talk about lengthening our order and making sure we get some good production from everyone. That does a lot of things. It helps with the energy.”

But after Duffey allowed the tying blast to Ramírez in the eighth, Minnesota had another chance to chain together those at-bats in the 10th -- and that time, the Twins couldn’t get the job done. Though Cave moved automatic runner Willians Astudillo to third with one out, Simmons struck out and Ryan Jeffers grounded out, stranding the go-ahead run.

For as encouraging as that eighth-inning rally was, the 10th served as a reminder that the Twins’ offense has struggled in these situational hitting spots all season long. In four of their five extra-inning losses, they’ve been unable to plate the automatic runner from second base in the 10th inning. In all five, the opponent brought its automatic runner home.

Similarly, the Twins have generated opportunities to score throughout this 2-12 stretch -- but they’re 17-for-101 (.168) with runners in scoring position in that span.

“We talk about using the whole field,” Baldelli said. “Sometimes, we talk about using the whole bat to just find a way to make it happen. But we’ve been in a lot of these close ballgames and they’ve been tough on us. … Even when we feel like we’re doing what we want to do, we’re not getting the results that we’re looking for, and that is tough and it can be frustrating.”

The Twins have now been outscored 39-19 in the seventh inning and later this season -- an issue that rests as much on the bullpen as it does the offense.

Minnesota’s bullpen entered the game with a 4.84 ERA, fourth-highest in the American League. That’s part of why the Twins are 4-9 in games decided by two or fewer runs, and they have actually been tied or ahead during the eighth inning in seven of their 14 losses this season.

But the Twins will continue to stand by Colomé, who took his third loss of the season, and trust that this sign of late life from the offense is a harbinger of continued improvements to come.

“I want to make sure it’s not overwhelming to our guys, because we continue to play some really good, tight ballgames,” Baldelli said.