Another bullpen meltdown cost the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.
Two days after a four-run lead evaporated in nine pitches in Texas, Twins relievers surrendered another four-spot late in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres in front of 39,143 fans at Petco Park. On the 10th pitch of the eighth inning, Jurickson Profar completed a game-changing rally with a go-ahead, three-run home run off reliever Steven Okert to send the Twins to their third straight loss. Okert recorded only one out and allowed all four runs.
Moments before the backbreaking homer, Christian Vázquez briefly provided the Twins a lead with a pinch hit, two-run single off Padres reliever Tanner Scott. Bailey Ober completed his 11th straight quality start in the loss but exited after yielding a tying, two-run homer to Manny Machado.
“It’s tough,” said Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who earlier belted his 20th homer of the season. “It’s hard to have that feeling like we’re in charge, especially in the time of the season where every game matters as much as it was. As tight as it is, every game matters, so it’s hard to lose two games we could have won. But you’ve got to turn the page.”
The Padres turned Tuesday’s game upside down in an instant.
With the Twins in front 5-3 and a run of three left-handed hitters and a switch hitter due, manager Rocco Baldelli opted for Okert, against whom lefties have only a .530 OPS this season compared to a .956 OPS for righties. But San Diego manager Mike Shildt countered by pinch hitting righty Donovan Solano, who opened the eighth inning with a single on an 0-2 fastball from Okert that caught too much of the plate.
Luis Arráez followed Solano with a single on a 1-2 fastball off the edge to bring up Profar, who moments earlier made an outstanding defensive play to limit a Twins rally, launching a picture-perfect throw as he ran to his right to cut down Jeffers going to third base on the Vázquez single. Okert fell behind 2-0 in the count, and Profar got enough of a slider below the zone but over the middle to drive it out for a three-run blast.
Suddenly, a game the Twins controlled for most of the first six innings and then snatched back was in the Padres’ hands.
“It sucks losing the game for the team,” Okert said. “I felt like everyone played pretty good. Bailey threw great. (Griffin Jax) threw great. Offense came in big against a really good reliever there. So it’s pretty frustrating and sucks, for sure. … One after the other, just bop-bop-bop. But that’s part of it. Just got to keep going.”
Baldelli opted for Okert over Cole Sands or Jorge Alcala, who allowed five earned runs in Sunday’s loss, because of San Diego’s run of lefties. The Twins often use Jax against key lefties, but he’d already pitched in relief after Ober surrendered the tying homer to Machado in the seventh inning.
Before Okert’s three-batter minimum was up, the lead was gone.
“It happened very quickly,” Baldelli said. “Ultimately, kind of a challenging one to walk off the field and accept you didn’t win the game. There are a lot of things that we could point to that we should do more and do better with.”
The Twins could point to their offense’s inability to take control of the game early as a reason for the tough decision. There were three outs on the bases, too.
Twice, the bottom of the order set the table, as Max Kepler and Austin Martin each reached base to start the third and fifth innings on three singles and a walk. But San Diego starter Martín Pérez induced a double play off Manuel Margot’s bat in the third before Royce Lewis softly lined out to first.
Though Margot singled in the fifth to load the bases, the Twins got only a run on Lewis’ sac fly. On the play, Martin aggressively raced for third base, which wasn’t covered, and tried to score when the throw got away, only for Pérez to back up the play and cut him down at the plate.
Jeffers provided the Twins a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning when he followed a Carlos Santana double with a booming homer, his 20th of the season. But the Twins had another runner eliminated on the bases when Jose Miranda was picked off first base after singling with one out in the sixth.
“It’s frustrating,” Baldelli said. “There’s no one more frustrated than the players when those things don’t work out. Really, it truly just comes down to they gotta go out and make the pitches they want to make.”
Brooks Lee’s health is improving, and Twins athletic trainer Nick Paparesta likes Byron Buxton’s improvement enough that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of his return Friday. While acknowledging he first needs to see the center fielder in person and doesn’t have a timeline for his return, Paparesta said Buxton (right hip inflammation) is progressing nicely.
Already hitting, throwing and doing outfield work, Buxton ran for the first time Tuesday.
“With the off day on Thursday, it gives us a chance to reconvene,” Paparesta said. “I get a chance to talk to (Buxton) and see him face to face and see how things are going, but I wouldn’t rule (Friday) out at this point.”
Lee, who has right biceps tendinitis, is throwing without pain and hitting from both sides of the plate. Paparesta said Lee would work out with the Triple-A St. Paul club Thursday and suggested a rehab assignment could come soon if he continues to improve.
Shortstop Carlos Correa (right plantar fasciitis) is still experiencing some discomfort but reported feeling better after he ran Tuesday. Correa also has been hitting, throwing and taking grounders.
“(Correa) stated that it was good, comparatively speaking to how he felt a couple days ago,” Paparesta said. “We’re just kind of in a little bit of a pain management situation with Carlos, trying to make sure that we can keep him comfortable, see how each day goes to the next day. … We’re hoping that kind of mitigates as we kind of push through the process here and see how he goes through feeling on the day to day.”
(Photo of Bailey Ober: Denis Poroy / Getty Images)
