Too often lately, manager Rocco Baldelli said before Monday’s game, the Twins have fallen behind early and haven’t been able to hand a lead over to their bullpen.
“The goal is to put some runs on the board early but also obviously hold the other team down for a good bit, and that’s kind of where we’ve been struggling,” Baldelli said. “The early part of the game has been a separator for us, not in the way we’re looking for.”
Just hours later, it was a separator once again.
The Twins put on two runners in each of the first two innings and came away with nothing before falling into a six-run hole in the third on their way to an 11-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners in the series opener at Target Field.
Carlos Correa struck out with runners on first and second in the first. Byron Buxton did the same in the second. And in the third, after the Twins had fallen into yet another hole, they put two more runners on with just one out. Neither scored.
They finished the day 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, unable to cash in on their opportunities. Their only two runs came in the sixth when Trevor Larnach and Correa went back-to-back against Mariners starter Bryan Woo.
Woo worked efficiently through the Twins’ lineup for much of the day, finishing with nine strikeouts. He just missed an immaculate inning in the fourth, striking out all three batters but requiring 10 pitches — all strikes — to do so.
He pitched with a lead from the third inning onward after his teammates scored six runs on a pair of home runs off Twins starter Bailey Ober.
The inning started with a pair of hits from the bottom of the lineup before a sacrifice fly and a Julio Rodríguez home run put Seattle up by three. Ober wasn’t able to stop the damage there.
Though he kept MLB home run leader and MVP candidate Cal Raleigh in the park — he would later homer off Joey Wentz — the catcher sparked another rally with an infield single and came around to score on a Luke Raley three-run shot.
Aside from the turbulent third, Ober essentially cruised through the rest of his start, allowing just two other baserunners in his seven innings. Dominic Canzone’s sixth-inning home run was the seventh run Ober gave up, marking the second time in three starts that Ober has allowed seven runs.
Ober has given up 23 runs in four starts this month, and the Twins’ pitching staff has surrendered 46 in the past four games.
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