Trouble with the curve: Twins swept on pitch Duran didn’t want to use
CLEVELAND – In a season that featured a poor 20-game start, followed by one of the best 20-game stretches in team history, the Twins are sitting at another low point.
After a chaotic top of the ninth inning in which the Cleveland Guardians blew a one-run lead without giving up a hit or a ball out of the infield, Twins closer Jhoan Duran surrendered a three-run, walk-off homer to Will Brennan with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in a 5-2 loss Sunday at Progressive Field.
The Twins, swept in a three-game series by a division rival, have lost six consecutive games, their longest losing streak of the season. Duran was charged with two losses this weekend, giving up late-inning homers on curveballs.
Duran said he wanted to start Brennan with a fastball after the Twins opted to intentionally walk Josh Naylor with first base open and two outs. After Duran received a mound visit from pitching coach Pete Maki, his first-pitch curveball was drilled over the right field wall.
"The first time, [the curveball] was on my own," said Duran, referring to a go-ahead home run he allowed to José Ramírez on Friday. "This time, it's not my decision. I thought [Brennan] wasn't good with fastballs. I'm an employee here, so whatever I need to throw, I need to throw it."
After the Twins' record dropped to 0-5 against Cleveland this year, manager Rocco Baldelli met with players in the clubhouse to deliver a short message.
"It can feel like you are underneath something and nothing that you do is going to get you out of it," Baldelli said. "There is a lot that we can do to get out of it, and I want our guys to know that. We're very close. We're an at-bat or two away. We're just talking one or two at-bats in a row from winning today, from winning the first game of the series, and it's that close."
BOXSCORE: Cleveland 5, Twins 2
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The Twins have totaled nine runs during their six-game losing streak, and four of those runs came during the ninth inning Saturday in a game in which the Twins trailed by 11. Their lack of run support Sunday spoiled a strong start from Chris Paddack, who permitted a two-run homer to Andrés Giménez in the first inning and then retired 24 of his final 25 batters.
"I wanted to be a stopper today of this bad juju, putting pressure on ourselves again like we kind of did early on in the season," said Paddack, who completed a career-high eight innings.
The Twins were gifted the tying run in the ninth after Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch with two outs. Byron Buxton beat shortstop Brayan Rocchio to the second base bag on a ground ball that could have ended the game. Then closer Emmanuel Clase dropped a routine flip from Naylor, the first baseman, and Buxton scored from second base after he was nearly caught in a rundown.
"You look at a play up the middle, nobody beats that out but Buck," Paddack said. "Then the bobble at first, no one scores but Buck."
Whenever the Twins had hopes of sustaining an earlier rally, Cleveland stomped them out with its defense. With a runner on first base and one out in the fourth inning, Rocchio dove to his left and flipped the ball from his stomach to begin an inning-ending double play on a ground ball Jeffers hit up the middle.
Brennan, the right fielder, saved a run in the fifth inning when he made a sliding catch on a line drive hit by Carlos Santana with a runner on second base.
Guardians starter Tanner Bibee, who gave up one run in seven innings, stranded two runners in the seventh inning. After Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt left Bibee on the mound following a mound meeting, Bibee struck out Santana on a called third strike. Bibee hopped off the mound, screamed, "Let's go!" and waved his arms to tell the crowd to yell louder.
