Twins fall just short of sweep in extras loss against Rangers

ARLINGTON -- The Twins won the first three games of the weekend series against the Rangers in comeback fashion, but they couldn’t pull it off a fourth time in a 6-5 loss in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon at Globe Life Field.

The Twins saw a four-run lead erased in the seventh inning, but appeared to be on the verge of another come-from-behind victory when Carlos Santana belted a game-tying solo home run in the ninth. But the Twins couldn’t push the automatic runner across in the 10th while the Rangers did.

“You have the lead right where you want it,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Our bullpen has really done their job very well recently, so yeah, it’s disappointing. But you're going to run into some games like that. It was just a matter of a handful of pitches and the game completely turned upside down.”

Signs pointed toward a Twins sweep much of the day. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by Ryan Jeffers, and extended it to 4-0 with an RBI single by Jeffers in the third.

Starter Pablo López, meanwhile, worked out of trouble often and worked through six scoreless innings.

With a lead and a bullpen that had been lights-out all series going into the seventh, what could go wrong? Well, the Twins’ bullpen finally stumbled.

Reliever Jorge Alcala allowed a season-high five runs in the seventh. The Rangers’ first three batters of the inning reached on hits, including consecutive RBI doubles by All-Stars Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. After getting Josh Smith to fly out, Alcala gave up a game-tying two-run homer to Adolis García. Then, after striking out Nathaniel Lowe for the second out, Alcala surrendered the lead on a solo shot by Josh Jung.

It was an uncharacteristic outing by Alcala, who entered with a 0.45 ERA in 19 road games this season. He had also posted a 1.80 ERA since being recalled on May 24.

“I think some of his pitches were probably just more hittable versions of his pitches location-wise,” Baldelli said. “I talked to [pitching coach Pete Maki] about it, Pete said it wouldn’t really change that much. That’s how he throws the ball in most of his outings. Most of the time the other team is not hitting the ball on the barrel.”

Baldelli added that he likely would have turned to reliever Griffin Jax earlier if Alcala was in a situation with runners on base. But, “you have to think that a guy with a track record as good as Alcala is fine to continue pitching with two outs and nobody on base.”

Despite giving up the lead, the Twins didn’t go away quietly. Santana belted his game-tying solo shot to start the ninth off Rangers closer Kirby Yates, who hadn’t blown a save all season.

In the 10th, the Twins had a chance. Automatic runner Edouard Julien advanced to third on a flyout by Willi Castro and then tried to score on a grounder by Jose Miranda, but Julien was thrown out at the plate by Seager.

“This is a really fast infield,” Baldelli said. “Some of those balls that are hit really take off and they're in the infielder’s glove before you know it. I think that probably helps them a little bit to make that play, but Seager made a good play on that ball.”

Baldelli challenged whether there was catcher’s interference on the play, but it stood upon review.

“It’s the end of the game. It’s a run-scoring play,” Baldelli said. “Why not see what the umpires actually think when they can slow it down?”

In the bottom half, the Rangers pushed their automatic runner, García, across on an infield single by Jung. Jung hit a slow chopper toward third and Miranda’s throw sailed wide of first, allowing García to race home.

It was a disappointing end to what had been a terrific series for the Twins.

“It’s a tough way to end this series, but we took three out of four against the defending World Series champs,” López said. “So, we have to be pretty proud of the way we played the series.”