Troubling trend shows after Twins drop series to Milwaukee

MINNEAPOLIS -- After the normal postgame questions to Twins manager Rocco Baldelli about individual plays that played into the game’s eventual outcome, the standout performances of the afternoon and the like, his tone and demeanor changed subtly, but distinctly enough to become more intense when the topic turned to the Twins’ dismal record against better teams this season.

Baldelli had spoken ruefully about the way the team’s mistakes and bullpen struggles had played into the two losses this series against a first-place Milwaukee team in a pair of very tight battles, including Sunday’s 8-7 loss in which the Twins ceded a one-run lead late and fell just short in their ninth-inning rally.

But as the Twins dive into a second half they hope will lead into the playoffs for a second consecutive season, turning those “just shorts” into meaningful triumphs will grow all the more important down the stretch -- and even only two games into the second half, Baldelli pressed the need to own their lack of execution and find some fixes.

“We lost two games in this series,” Baldelli said. “Looking in the mirror, we should win both of those games. … That’s my opinion. I’m sure they’re on the other side of the field saying the same thing. I think we should have won both of those games.

“We lost both of those games, and it wasn’t luck. We didn’t lose because of bad luck. We lost because we didn’t execute and we didn’t do enough to win. When you play the good teams, you’ve got to play even better.”

The Twins are still 54-44 and in one of the AL Wild Card spots -- undeniably one of the better teams in the AL. But as they’ve taken care of business against worse teams, they’ve had a significant problem against the teams ahead of them in the standings -- the teams they’ll likely need to beat in these meaningful games down the stretch.

Here’s how they’ve now fared against those teams:

Orioles (60-39): 0-3
Guardians (59-39): 0-5
Yankees (59-42): 0-6
Dodgers (58-41, entering Sunday): 1-2
Brewers (57-42): 1-3

That’s a combined record of 2-19 against teams ahead of them in the standings, including an 0-14 mark against AL clubs.

And guess who’s next up on the schedule? The MLB-best Phillies.

“We’ve played long stretches of really good baseball this year,” Baldelli said. “I’ve liked the way we’ve played. … I’d say there’s way more positives going on here than negatives. I like a lot of it. [But] when we show up against the good teams, what you’ve said is not untrue. It’s absolutely true. We just need to play better.”

The Twins don’t seem to be far off, as evidenced by the two good games against Milwaukee, including the 12-inning loss on Saturday, but they certainly didn’t help their own cause on either side of the ball this weekend -- and that sort of thing is more in their control.

The defense fell apart in that 12th inning on Saturday, and while the Twins didn’t play their messiest game on defense on Sunday, starter Joe Ryan crossed in front of third baseman Brooks Lee to prevent the latter from making a play on a bunt that ultimately loomed large in the three-run fifth inning that helped the Brewers take a brief lead.

It also didn’t help that the Twins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, stranding multiple runners on with none out in each of the seventh and eighth innings, including the bases loaded with none out in the latter frame.

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to take the game and just win the game,” Baldelli said. “It’s not about the other team, it’s about what you’re doing. We made plenty of mistakes over the last two days and we didn’t play good enough.”

It won’t be the case that Griffin Jax and Jorge Alcala will continue allowing back-breaking homers to cede the late lead -- Jax’s was his first allowed on an 0-2 count as a reliever, and Alcala’s was his first allowed in 36 2/3 innings this season. They’ll eventually get Jose Miranda, Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis back from the IL.

In the meantime, they’ve got to buckle down and start to find a way in these games.

“It feels like we're in there,” said Trevor Larnach, who hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning. “Baseball -- close games, comes down to one or two things, if it's not leaning our way, so be it. Learn from it now, so if we get later down the road, we can capitalize on it.”