Pitching costs Twins second day in a row against Mariners
The Twins have dropped two consecutive games to the Mariners following their 8-7 defeat Wednesday afternoon at Target Field.
Minnesota dropped the game despite Matt Wallner hitting two of Minnesota's four home runs, the others coming off the bats of Eddy Julien and Christian Vazquez. But seven runs wasn't enough as the pitching staff faltered for the second time in as many days.
Joe Ryan lasted just 3.2 innings and gave up four runs on seven hits. Jordan Balazovic then allowed a three-run homer to Dylan Moore in the fifth inning before Josh Winder pitched a solid final four innings of one run ball.
The Twins trailed 8-3 before plating four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, highlighted by Wallner's second homer of the day and RBI singles from Kyle Farmer and Vazquez, which bookended an RBI double by Joey Gallo.
Wallner's sixth-inning homer was launched into the second deck in left-center field, which is a rarity for a left-handed hitter at Target Field, much less any ballpark in the majors.
What on earth
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) July 26, 2023
Matt Wallner, a left-handed hitter, just hit a baseball 426 feet to the upper deck in left-center field
How? pic.twitter.com/zyGOqajr2q
The first three batters in Minnesota's lineup – Carlos Correa, Julien and Max Kepler – went a combined 1-for-15. Correa and Kepler were both 0-for-5 and both grounded out with a runner on base in the ninth inning.
The loss is the second in a row for the Twins (54-50), who still lead the AL Central by two games over the Cleveland Guardians.
Up next: Twins at Royals, 7:10 p.m. Friday.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.