Another day, same result for the Twins. But in this one, at the very least, they showed plenty of life before suffering the same fate.
The Twins’ comeback attempt fell short on Sunday, as they fell 9-8 to the Milwaukee Brewers at Target Field, swept in a series in which their pitchers gave up a combined 35 runs. But they sure made it interesting first, scoring five runs in innings six through eight to turn what looked like yet another blowout into a one-run loss.
The Twins were led by Byron Buxton, who hit a game-tying home run to lead off the bottom of the first inning and another home run in the sixth inning. Buxton now has six home runs in his past six games, during which his team is 1-5.
He had plenty of help offensively on Sunday, the team finishing the day with 18 hits. Brooks Lee, the day after his 19-game hitting streak was snapped, had four of them, and so, too, did Carlos Correa. Ryan Jeffers hit a home run in the fourth inning and in the eighth, Ty France brought the Twins within one with a two-run blast.
But the Twins missed an opportunity to push more runs across in the first inning. They scored two runs before loading the bases with one out and their rally halted there. That lead was short lived.
After using an opener to begin the game — reliever Danny Coulombe began the game and gave up a run in the first inning — starter David Festa entered and immediately gave up a home run to Brewers first baseman Rhys Hoskins to tie the game.
That was the beginning of a of a tough outing for Festa, who allowed eight runs for the second time in four starts since he was called up earlier this month to take the rotation spot of injured ace Pablo López.
In the third inning, Lee could not handle two straight balls hit his way at third base. The next batter, Christian Yelich, hit a single just over his head, giving Milwaukee the lead back. Milwaukee scored two runs in the third, another in the fourth and four more in the fifth inning against Festa before Griffin Jax eventually entered in the sixth inning to bail him out of a jam.
Strong performances from the bullpen over the next few innings gave them a chance to creep back into the game but after leaving a pair of runners on in the eighth inning, they left two more on in the ninth to drop their ninth game of their last 10.
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