Three Up, Three Down: That Was A Tough One

That might be an understatement. After the last four season in which the Twins lost 90 or more games each year, 2015 has been fun. And, because of that fun, and the fact that the Twins are in contention on September 25^th with just nine more games to play makes such a loss even more difficult on fans.

Of course, as difficult as the loss was on the fans, it is likely ten-times more difficult on the players in that clubhouse, and particularly on Glen Perkins whose second-half slide may have reached a low point.

THREE UP

Some questioned the decision to have Mike Pelfrey make the Friday night start because of his road struggles throughout the 2015 season. At Target Field this year, Pelfrey is 4-4 with a 2.61 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in 13 starts. Opponents hit just .248/.305/.323 (.628) off of him. On the road, he is 2-6 with a 5.60 ERA and a 1.74 WHIP. Opponents have hit .347/.397/.484 (.881). And yet, Pelfrey came through when his team needed him. The righ-hander threw five innings and gave up just one run on six hits. He walked none and struck out seven. He was at just 85 pitches when Paul Molitor ended his night and went to the bullpen.

The game was scoreless through the first four innings. In the top of the fifth, Tigers starter Matt Boyd began with walking the first two batters, Miguel Sano and Trevor Plouffe. After a Nick Castellanos throwing error, the bases were loaded for Eddie Rosario. The rookie has had many great moments in his rookie season, but when he launched a bases-clearing triple, it may have been the biggest moment of his year. It gave the Twins a 3-0 lead. Eduardo Escobar later hit a sacrifice fly, to second baseman Ian Kinsler, for the fourth run. Escobar leads MLB in triples with 15. He also added his 16^th outfield assist in the game.

THREE DOWN

Things started out well for the bullpen as Blaine Boyer worked a scoreless sixth inning. Casey Fien got the seventh inning and it started with a strikeout. Dixon Machado hit a single, but Fien got a flyout from Rajai Davis for the second out. One out from getting out of the inning, he proceeded to walk Anthony Gose, the nine hitter. Ian Kinsler then hit a ground-rule double, a lucky break as Gose may have scored from first base. The Twins still had a 4-2 lead, and Glen Perkins came in.

Glen Perkins was amazing in the first half. He was 28-28 in his save opportunities and recorded the final out of the All-Star Game for the second straight season. As Nick wrote yesterday, the second-half has been a huge struggle for the left-hander. With runners on second and third, Miguel Cabrera walked. That brought up Victor Martinez who has not been good against right-handers (.214) while hitting very well against southpaws (.348). Martinez came through with a two-run double to tie the game. Perkins was able to strike out JD Martinez to keep the game tied.

Perkins stayed in for the 8^th inning. Nick Castellanos led off the inning with a double. However, he struck out the next two batters. That brought up Rajai Davis, and we all know what happened then. On a full-count pitch, Davis launched an opposite field home run to give the Tigers a 6-4 lead. Perkins was going for the backdoor slider to get Davis, but as he said after the game, he just hung the pitch and Davis took advantage.

It’s easy to first- or second-guess Molitor’s decisions in the seventh and eighth innings. Bringing in the left-hander to face Cabrera, Martinez and Martinez makes sense with Perkins going well, but how about when he’s struggling? Having Perkins, coming off of injuries, stay in for a second inning can be questioned as well. However, he got the two strikeouts and then just made a really bad pitch to Davis. If he throws the slider the way he throws it 95% of the time, he gets a strikeout or weak contact. If he takes out Perkins and brings in Tonkin at that point, then fans could wonder why he didn’t stick with Perkins.

The Twins bullpen woes on Friday night certainly are magnified in a playoff race. Through the course a 162-game season teams are going to cough up leads, even four-run leads, several times.

Likewise, teams are going to have tough nights with the bat. Last night, it was a combination. The bullpen melted down, but the offense had just two hits. Matt Boyd, the southpaw rookie, gave up just one hit. That was as big of an issue as the bullpen. Rosario gave the team the big hit after a couple of walks, but aside from that the offense did nothing.

WILD CARD WATCH

The Twins lost, but the Astros also lost, so the Twins are still just 1.5 games back for the second Wild Card spot. However, the Angels got a win, so they are just 0.5 games behind the Astros.

Before the Cleveland series, I thought that the Twins would need to go 10-3 over their final 13 games to make the playoffs. They’ve gone 2-2 in the last four games, so now my thought is that they will need to go 8-1 down the stretch to make the playoffs.

Tonight, the Twins will send rookie Tyler Duffey to the mound against Detroit. Along with Ervin Santana, he's been the team's best starter in the last four to five weeks.

The Twins are now 78-75.

And yes, I only came up with Two Up for the Three Up section. You’ll have to let me know if you can find a third from last night’s game.

A good night's sleep didn't make that loss any less tough.