For six games, the Twins punished their opposition, putting up at least six runs in each game, all victories. But on Wednesday, runs were at a premium, and a couple of defensive mistakes ended up leading to the end of the Twins’ winning streak.

The Tampa Bay Rays used a Royce Lewis throwing error in the 10th inning on Wednesday to edge the Twins, 3-2, at Target Field.

On what should have been the final out of a scoreless inning for reliever Jorge Alcala, Lewis’s throw got past first baseman Carlos Santana, allowing Randy Arozarena to score from second base. The Twins then went down quietly in the bottom of the 10th.

Another costly error helped the Rays tie the game in the seventh, taking advantage of a rare Carlos Correa misplay. The Twins appeared to have pinch runner José Caballero caught attempting to steal, but the ball ticked off the shortstop’s glove instead, letting him advance to third base.

He would then score the tying run on a soft Yandy Díaz single.

A Lewis home run in the fifth had out the Twins up 1-0, their first and only lead of the day — and busted the ribbon board in left field.

Lewis smacked a home run at 108.7 mph off the screen, causing the section to go black. It’s a price the Twins will surely be happy to pay considering the production they’re getting from their hot-hitting third baseman, who now has eight home runs in 14 games played this season. Lewis finished the day with three of the Twins’ nine hits.

The Twins scored their only other run in the third inning when Austin Martin scored on Trevor Larnach’s double play ball. That tied the game at the time after Isaac Paredes had hit a home run off starter Joe Ryan earlier in the inning.

Ryan, facing the organization that traded him as a minor leaguer years earlier, took a no-decision in a game in which he gave up just that run in his six innings pitched.

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For a third game in a row, Minnesota United was left shorthanded because of international call-ups, injuries, and what Eric Ramsay called “a perfect storm” of other issues.

Unfortunately, among the things the Loons are missing in that three-game stretch is points.

FC Dallas striker Petar Musa had a hat trick, helping the home team to a 5-3 win against MNUFC in Frisco, Texas. It was Minnesota’s second consecutive loss overall, and its third straight road defeat.

It was also the second time in 12 days that the Loons have dropped points against Dallas, statistically one of the worst teams in the league so far in 2024.

Minnesota fought back to tie the game twice, with goals from Bongokuhle Hlongwane in the first half and Hassani Dotson in the second half, but both times conceded another go-ahead goal within six minutes of scoring.

Musa had gone five games without a goal coming into the night. After some help from defensive errors by the Loons, though, the Croatian claimed his first hat trick in MLS. First, fullback Caden Clark was slow to step forward as part of Minnesota’s effort to trap Musa offside, leaving the Dallas striker able to run onto a long over-the-top pass from Paul Arriola and roll a shot past Clint Irwin from a surprisingly acute angle to the goal.

Then, after the Loons had tied the game 1-1, an attempted cross went right through the feet of center back Victor Eriksson, and Musa was able to poke the deflection past Irwin for his second of the half.

With the score 2-2 in the second half, Musa completed the hat-trick after Dallas was able to knock down another over-the-top pass from Arriola, and Musa ran onto the loose ball and scored again.

Jesús Ferreira got the fourth goal for Dallas, in the 75th minute — once again, after the Loons’ attempt to trap a Dallas forward offside failed, leaving Ferreira to waltz in alone and beat Irwin. Logan Farrington made the scoreline even more embarrassing for Minnesota, adding a fifth in the 90th minute.

Hlongwane’s first-half goal came after one of the most up-and-down single minutes you’ll see from any player.

First, the forward snuck in behind the Dallas defense but completely whiffed on an attempt to volley home a lofted pass. Minnesota, though, won the ball back from the resulting goal kick, and the ball went straight to Hlongwane, who stung Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes’s palms with a rocket from outside the penalty area, winning a corner kick in the process. On the corner kick, Hlongwane rose in front of Paes to head home his first goal in seven games.

Dotson, in the second half, simply repeated what he did 12 days ago against Dallas. In that game, he scored after picking up a loose ball from Bongokuhle Hlongwane. In the 57th minute, he did it again — but this time, he added an extra trick. His blast went off Paes’s gloves, off the left-hand post, looped gently across the goal line, hit the right-hand post, and trickled into the net for a goal that both tied the game and seemingly defied the laws of physics.

Wil Trapp scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time to make the game 5-3 after a handball by Dallas in their own penalty area.

The Loons got Wil Trapp back in the starting lineup after the defensive midfielder missed last Saturday’s game with a family-related absence. Michael Boxall also started for the Loons, four days after leaving a game at halftime with an injured ankle.

For a third consecutive game, Minnesota United was shorthanded because of international call-ups, injuries and what manager Eric Ramsay called “a perfect storm” of other issues.

Among the things the Loons also are missing in that three-game stretch are points.

FC Dallas striker Petar Musa had a hat trick, helping the home team to a 5-3 win against MNUFC on Wednesday night in Frisco, Texas. It was Minnesota’s second straight loss and the second time in 12 days that the Loons dropped points against Dallas, statistically one of the most punchless teams in the league before this offensive explosion.

Ramsay called the goals “uncharacteristic moments of poor defending” for a team that had generally been good on defense since the new manager’s arrival.

“I think that’s arguably the most disappointing thing, because I think our baseline is a very strong defensive team that typically doesn’t make repeated mistakes as we’ve done tonight,” Ramsay said.

Minnesota managed to fight back to tie the game after Musa’s first and second goals but ultimately was undone by its defensive fragility, which helped the Croatian striker get his first MLS hat trick after coming into the game without a goal in his past five starts.

On Musa’s first goal, United fullback Caden Clark didn’t step up with the rest of the back line to trap Musa offside, allowing the striker — onside only by inches — to get on the end of an over-the-top ball from Paul Arriola and roll it past Loons keeper Clint Irwin from an acute angle.

Bongokuhle Hlongwane headed home a corner kick in the 32nd minute to tie the game at 1-1, but six minutes later an attempted cross went through the feet of center back Victor Eriksson, and Musa was able to poke the deflection past Irwin for his second of the half.

Hassani Dotson tied the game again in the 57th minute with a memorable, physics-defying shot that went off the gloves of Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes, off the left-hand post, gently across the face of goal, off the right-hand post, and into the net.

Musa completed his hat trick in the 62nd minute after Dallas knocked down another over-the-top pass from Arriola, and Musa ran onto the loose ball and scored again.

Jesús Ferreira scored Dallas’ fourth goal in the the 75th minute — once again, after a Loons attempt to trap a Dallas forward offside failed, leaving Ferreira to waltz in alone and beat Irwin. Logan Farrington made the scoreline even more embarrassing for Minnesota, adding a fifth in the 90th minute.

Minnesota didn’t struggle for chances. The Loons had 19 shots on goal, many of them from very promising places, but most ended up either straight at Paes or over the crossbar.

“I’m not too disappointed with how we used the ball and how purposeful we were around the edge of their box and what that led to,” Ramsay said. “It’s the other side of the game, unfortunately, where we’ve been found wanting today.”

Wil Trapp, returning to the starting lineup after a family issue kept him out of MNUFC’s 2-0 loss to Seattle on Saturday, scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time.

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On a night the Lynx had one of their poorer offensive outputs this season, the defense remained stout.

Dorka Juhász scored 10 points off the bench, had a season-high 11 rebounds and was a team-best plus-19 as Minnesota beat Atlanta 68-55 Wednesday night at Target Center.

The Lynx (12-3) have won five in a row and eight of nine.

Bridget Carleton, who missed Monday’s win with an elbow injury, finished with 14 points. Her third 3-pointer with 1:41 left gave Minnesota a 12-point lead. She added another less than a minute later for good measure.

Napheesa Collier scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Kayla McBride had eight points, and Courtney Williams had seven points and a team-high six assists.

Entering the night shooting a league-high 46.3% from the field and WNBA-best 40.5% from outside the arc, the Lynx ended at 35.5% and 31.8% respectively.

Led by Juhász, the Minnesota bench outscored Atlanta 19-6.

Atlanta (6-7) not only lost for the third time in four games, but the Dream’s top scorer, Rhyne Howard, needed help to the locker room with a lower left leg injury in the third quarter.

The Dream shot just 28.8% and missed 19 of 23 3-point attempts.

Minnesota outscored Atlanta 36-22 in the paint.

 

Keyed by a 13-0 run between the first and second quarters, Minnesota led 35-30 at the break.

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