Byron Buxton stole a base in the first inning of Tuesday’s game, putting him one step closer to potentially booming the first Twins player to become a member of the 30-30 club.
And that, it turns out, was one of the only things to like for the Twins in Tuesday night’s game, a 12-2 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium in a game in which the offense was mostly quieted and the pitching staff gave up all 12 runs with two outs in the inning.
Buxton, back in the lineup after being hit by a pitch on the knee on Sunday, had two of those hits and took off after the first one, swiping his 22nd base of the season. Earlier on the road trip, the center fielder accomplished the first half of the feat, hitting his 30th home run of the season.
There were few other highlights for the Twins (64-81) on a night where they could not muster anything off soft-tossing starter Kyle Hendricks, who went seven innings in his start and allowed just four hits.
“Hendricks has a very unique way of pitching and there’s almost nobody else in the game that pitches like him,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He threw good changeups today. He got us expanding on that pitch. … We just didn’t have the answer tonight.”
Buxton, who reached third base in the first inning, was the only Twins runner to make it that far against Hendricks, who pitched with a lead for much of the night.
Coming off of consecutive quality starts, Zebby Matthews ran into trouble immediately, allowing hits to the first two batters he faced. The Angels (68-77) broke through with two outs in the first inning with Luis Rengifo delivering a two-run single. The third run of the inning came around to score on a double steal with Rengifo drawing a throw to second, allowing Taylor Ward to take home.
Opposing hitters were hitting .341 with a .982 OPS off Matthews with two outs in an inning coming into the day, and the starter continued to run into issues in those situations on Tuesday.
“I don’t know if it’s the quality of pitches just aren’t the same or what it is,” Matthews said. “It could just be as simple as some bad luck. A lot can go into it, so we’ll try and definitely figure it out.”
Matthews was chased out of the game in the fifth inning after allowing another two-out run. One of his inherited runners came around to score, too, as Matthews gave up five runs in his 4 2/3 innings pitched.
Pierson Ohl, who came on in relief, gave up four runs in the sixth inning, three on a Chris Taylor home run, as the Angels broke the game wide open. An inning later, Thomas Hatch served up a three-run home run of his own.
The Twins avoided the shutout when utilityman Ryan Fitzgerald, who pitched the bottom of the eighth inning, hit a two-run home run into the right field corner in the ninth.
“Just a challenging game almost from the start,” Baldelli said. “I don’t know if it does a whole lot to dissect that game. That was not one of our good ballgames that we’ve played recently and I’d like to turn the corner from that one.”
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