Twins’ bullpen sees one slip away to streaking Toronto

The Twins well-earned reputation for having a rock-solid bullpen took a hit on a Saturday afternoon when the late-inning pitching was as erratic as the weather at Target Field Minnesota took a lead into the eighth only to see Toronto tally off relievers Griffin Jax and Johan Duran as the Blue Jays rallied for a - win handing the Twins their third consecutive loss On a day where the skies went from sunny and calm to windy with clouds and back again with regularity the Twins were similarly unsettled falling behind early rallying to lead then seeing their scoreboard advantage slip away Matt Wallner and Kody Clemens homered for Minnesota The Twins got six innings of work from starter Chris Paddack who took a no decision There s particular frustration when you lose a battle that you have in hand or at least you have a lead with specific really good relievers that are coming in the tournament That s not the taste you re looking for Twins manager Rocco Baldelli announced after his association saw a lead slip away for the second consecutive tournament But we knew that these games were going to be competitive and the band on the other side has been playing really good Baldelli commented They ve been pitching good and they ve been playing really good baseball We knew we were going to have to come in and pitch very very well We knew we were going to have to have really solid at-bats throughout Paddack needed pitches to escape the first inning including foul balls by Toronto and did not make it unscathed Vladimir Guerrero Jr singled and came around to result on a Nathan Lukes single to center after Paddack had walked George Springer He got two quick outs in the second only to see Toronto double its lead when catcher Tyler Heineman batting ninth for the Blue Jays blasted a pitch feet to right field for his second home run of the season That s a pretty tough lineup one through nine Not a lot of swing and miss especially the bottom of the order and not a lot of chase either Paddack mentioned As pitchers we have to beat them in zone I recognize I threw specific really good changeups early in the challenge and got various takes Toronto starter Kevin Gausman faced the minimum number of Twins during his first trip through the order allowing only a walk to leadoff man Trevor Larnach who was erased two batters later when Carlos Correa bounced into a double play Gausman s trouble started with one out in the fourth when Ryan Jeffers and Correa hit back-to-back singles and Wallner walked to load the bases Gausman hit Ty France to drive in a run the league-leading th time that France has been plunked this season Then Royce Lewis worked a walk to tie the event at - The threat ended when Kody Clemens hit into a rare - - double play with Heineman forcing Wallner out at home then throwing to first in time to get Clemens The Twins took the lead in the sixth when Wallner plopped a - pitch into the right field stands for his third homer in six games since being called up from St Paul on May With the bases loaded and two out in the seventh Minnesota missed a chance to blow the battle open when Correa s knock to right held up long enough for Blue Jays outfielder Addison Barger to glove it Correa finished for in his first match back in the lineup after missing the previous three with upper back soreness Then just as a light rain began to fall Jax surrendered a double to Barger and a homer to left by Springer to put Toronto back in front Barger s hit was a slicing ball down the left field line with the Twins infield shifted It s annoying I thought it was an executed cutter he flips it down the line Whatever revealed Jax who took the loss falling to - But I still can t focus on that especially when Springer s up And I don t think I did I think I did a pretty good job of being more focused on executing the pitch to Springer It s just the pitch got away from me The Blue Jays tacked on an insurance run off Duran in their final at-bat before Clemens led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer to left It was the career-high sixth home run of the season for Clemens who came over from Philadelphia in a spring business It was good to put up a few runs there I thought Gausman threw well keeping us off balance mentioned Clemens Just a little frustrated with myself with the bases loaded double play there Wish I could come up for my squad in that moment Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman then struck out Willi Castro got Harrison Bader to fly out to right and coaxed a long fly ball to left center from Larnach It was the th save of the season for Hoffman as Toronto won its fourth consecutive tournament and has won of the past Reliever Chad Green got the win for Toronto improving to - Minnesota will try to salvage a event when the series concludes with a p m first pitch on Sunday Ernie Clement of the Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr celebrate their teams win against the Minnesota Twins after the contest at Target Field on June in Minneapolis Minnesota Photo by Matt Krohn Getty Images Related Articles After thawing out Twins reveling in the Minnesota sun Blue Jays rally past Twins Rocco Baldelli wants Twins bullpen to remunerate surprise relievers Twins option Kody Funderburk recall right-hander Travis Adams David Festa knocked out early as Twins fall to Athletics