SEATTLE — Paul Molitor has a lot of faith in his closer, and for good reason. Brandon Kintzler has saved 15 of 18 games this season, and 17 of 20 last year.
But he knows that a closer like Kintzler — not a strikeout pitcher, like most closers, but a ground-ball specialist — means he'll have a few more anxious moments than most managers.
Take Wednesday's crushing 6-5 loss to the Mariners, for instance. Kintzler's sinker appeared to be working just fine, and he got three straight hitters, Kyle Seager, Taylor Motter and Ben Gamel, to smack his sinkers into the ground. The first two were routine outs, while the third snuck through the infield for a hit.
Kintzler kept throwing sinkers, and Mike Zunino took a couple for balls, then watched one go by for a strike. Then came yet another sinker — but this one didn't sink. Instead, it hung in the middle of the plate, and Zunino did, as Kintzler said, "what major league hitters are supposed to do with it."
It landed 437 feet away, turning a Twins victory into a bitter defeat. And it reminded Molitor that Kintzler is an effective closer — but a nerve-rattling one.
"He doesn't strike a lot of people out, so you hope to get the ball on the ground. he was just hoping to throw a little back-door sinker there, but he left it up over the middle," the manager said. "He's going to be in trouble, at times, just because of the fact that he's going to put the ball in play more often than not."
Yes, strikeouts can't get past an infielder or land in the seats. It's a compromise that Molitor can live with, though, because Kintzler's sinker has been so effective.
"You just try to put your people in the best position," Molitor said. For Kintzler, that's the ninth inning.
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He's only been a closer for a year, though. Has it been difficult to accept the reality of that job, that his bad outings are often going to be painful for the entire team?
"Not really. If you [get hit] in the eighth inning, if they hit a homer, they still take the lead," Kintzler said calmly. "You just have to treat it like every other inning."
Early clutch hitting
Molitor was happy with his team's four-run, fifth-inning rally, particularly since it all happened with two outs. Ehire Adrianza, filling in for Jorge Polanco, got it started with a double to the wall in left-center. Brian Dozier followed with a walk, and Joe Mauer collected his sixth RBI in the first six games of this road trip, smacking a single to center.
Then Miguel Sano capped it with a cannon shot homer that soared into the upper deck in left field, his 15th homer of the season and first three-run shot since April 30.
"It was good. You try to take advantage of all the outs you have," Molitor said of the two-out uprising, his team's first four-run inning since Friday. "Miggy got a hanging curveball. We just couldn't find a way to add on. They pecked away one at a time until they got the big blow at the end."
Notes
Sano also made two excellent plays in the field, one a difficult short-hop, the other a barehanded throw after coming charging in on a dribbler.
Former Twin Danny Valencia was ejected after grounding out to end the eighth inning. Valencia shouted his complaint about the strike zone to umpire Dan Iassogna as he jogged back to the dugout, and was tossed.
Max Kepler's hitting streak reached a career-high nine games with a fourth-inning single.
The Twins allowed four home runs, the fifth time that's happened this season.
