Slumping Twins fall short after disagreement on mound visits

HOUSTON -- Despite a late rally, the Twins’ offensive woes continued on Tuesday night against the Astros.

After mustering up no hits against Astros ace Justin Verlander for six innings, Minnesota’s bats started to stir late, and the Twins loaded the bases with the go-ahead run on first in the ninth, only to fall short again, 4-2, and see their losing streak stretch to four.

Carlos Correa, who was returning to Houston for the first time since signing with the Twins, ended the Astros’ no-hit bid with a bloop single to left-center to lead off the seventh off Ryne Stanek.

“That was cool,” Correa said. “I didn't want to get no-hit on the first game back, so I had to drop that one in there.”

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The Twins plated two in the ninth on RBI singles by Jose Miranda and Max Kepler and had the go-ahead run on first with two outs, but Bryan Abreu struck out Jake Cave to end it.

Minnesota had a chance in the eighth as well, with runners at the corners and nobody out, but Cave struck out, and Gary Sánchez grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Manager Rocco Baldelli, who was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing the number of mound visits the team had made that inning, refused to make excuses for the loss.

“We showed some signs of life against some good relievers towards the end of the game today, which I was happy to see,” Baldelli said. “We’re playing a good team right now. We’re going to have to play better than good baseball to go out there and win tomorrow and the next day, and that’s where we need to focus our energy on right now.”

Things got chippy to start the fifth, leading to Baldelli’s ejection later in the inning.

Twins starter Aaron Sanchez plunked Jose Altuve to lead off the inning and the benches cleared, though tempers didn’t flare. During the fracas, home-plate umpire Rob Drake ruled that the Twins had made a mound visit.

After Sanchez walked Yuli Gurriel, pitching coach Pete Maki walked to the mound to talk to Sanchez, but he was told it was the second visit. The umpires conversed among themselves and confirmed Maki’s visit constituted a second visit.

Baldelli said he was not told there was a mound visit given to the Twins during the benches-clearing incident, while crew chief Todd Tichenor told a pool reporter that they did communicate the first mound visit.

“I really didn’t like the lack of communication on a really unusual play and [during a] period of time when there’s people all over the field and my back is to the field, walking back to the dugout after everything,” Baldelli said. “And then being told that that’s the case, I didn’t like it. At the bare minimum ... it’s necessary for someone to come over and let us know that a visit was given. So that’s it. I disagreed, and I disagreed on multiple levels.”

Sanchez, who was lifted for Cole Sands, allowed two runs on six hits with four strikeouts in four innings after being recalled from Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday. Sanchez last started for Minnesota on Aug. 1.

“For me, I'm here different than anybody that's on the roster,” Sanchez said. “I'm trying to work my way back from the Minor Leagues and pitch in the big leagues. This was a great opportunity for me, coming to face a team who is leading their division, who's going to be [playing] in October, and I want to be a part of that for this team. I want to hopefully get a full start to show that I can compete with the best of the best in an important time for our team. It's just unfortunate that happened, and I thought I threw the ball well.”

Verlander was pulled after striking out 10 and retiring 18 of the 19 batters he faced. Nick Gordon reached on a strikeout-wild pitch in the second as the only batter to reach against the 39-year-old veteran.

Minnesota appeared to have dodged more injuries after Gordon was replaced defensively in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Sands left an inning later after being hit on the right elbow by a comebacker.

Baldelli said Gordon was feeling ill, and Sands had an elbow contusion.