How low can the Twins go? Each day the answer gets a little more surprising.
Manager Ron Gardenhire blamed himself for Saturday's 9-3, 11-inning loss to the Blue Jays at Target Field, which sounded good in the news conference.
But with the Twins riding their first seven-game losing streak since 2003, and with their major league-worst record at 12-25, it seemed like a desperate attempt to shield his struggle-filled roster from added criticism.
Instead of dwelling on an offense that went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, or a bullpen that made a complete debacle of the 11th inning, Gardenhire said he was second-guessing himself for an eighth-inning pitching decision.
With a 3-2 lead, Twins starter Nick Blackburn had retired 17 consecutive batters when Yunel Escobar reached on an infield single with two outs in the eighth. The lefthanded-hitting Corey Patterson followed with a tying triple to right-center field.
"I'll put that one on myself," Gardenhire said. "I had a lefthander [Glen Perkins] ready for Patterson, and I didn't go out and make a move."
Gardenhire got to see a Perkins/Patterson matchup in the 11th, when Patterson lined a leadoff single. Gardenhire turned to righthander Jim Hoey, who served up a two-run, opposite-field homer to Jose Bautista.
It was the 13th homer of the season for Bautista, who led the majors with 54 last year. He also homered off Joe Nathan in Toronto's 2-0 victory Friday.
"We had opportunities to keep the bat out of [Bautista's] hand if we could have scored a couple more runs earlier, but they pitched out of jams," said Delmon Young, who struck out with runners in scoring position in each of his final three at-bats.
If the sellout crowd was disgusted by Bautista's home run, they really hadn't seen anything yet. Hoey, who has a 9.72 ERA, walked the next two batters, and then Jose Mijares gave up a two-run double to J.P. Arencibia.
After a single and two more walks against Mijares, Toronto's first eight batters of the inning had reached base. Alex Burnett, the fourth pitcher of the inning, came on and stopped the bleeding.
"Going 11 innings and coming up short at the end, that's tough," Hoey said. "It's tough for anybody."
To add insult, former Twins reliever Jon Rauch pitched scoreless ninth and 10th innings for the victory.
The Twins didn't want to use Nathan after he threw 33 pitches Friday. Long reliever Kevin Slowey hasn't pitched in a game since May 7, but Gardenhire said he was unavailable, too.
"He told me he warmed up twice on Wednesday and warmed up [Friday] night, and he was sore today," Gardenhire said.
The manager admitted it's tough making bullpen decisions with two pitchers unavailable.
"It makes it a little more interesting," Gardenhire said. "You have to do the best you can at the end, but like I said, we had a lead. Bottom line is we had a lead."
That's true, but a hapless offense hadn't made the cushion big enough. Especially for this bullpen.
Joe Christensen • jchristensen@startribune.com
