It was a little ironic that Chris Gimenez was the player trying to downplay the Twins' awful home-stand on Sunday, the backup catcher insisting that "we're about to find out what we're made of" in how they respond to going 2-7 over the past 10 days at Target Field. Ironic because Gimenez sort of symbolized the hopelessness of the Twins' weekend, and especially their 13-4 loss to the Tigers on Sunday.
Because he pitched.
"That's not normally a good thing," Gimenez said after recording the final out of the Tigers' ninth, a human white flag waving over the wreckage of this series and this homestand. "I throw it as slow as I can and let them hit it as far as they want."
That's another irony: Gimenez, unlike some actual Twins pitchers, actually was successful, retiring Andrew Romine, the only batter he faced. But the Tigers had already done plenty of hitting it far, and hitting it often, racking up a season-high 13 hits, the most the Twins have given up this year.
It just continued a sudden, ugly trend: Through their first 17 games, the Twins had given up an MLB-low 31 runs.
But in the five games since then, they have been abused for 40. And after opening the extended homestand in first place, the Twins leave town having lost six of seven.
"That was tough to watch, to be honest," Twins manager Paul Molitor said, and it came from every angle. The Twins committed two costly errors, coughed up four unearned runs, burned through the bullpen for a second consecutive day and managed only one measly hit with runners in scoring position — and that came in the first inning. "Not a good day," Molitor shrugged.
Kyle Gibson hasn't had one this year. That's the most troubling part. The righthander surrendered eight runs in his shortest start in two years, now owns an ERA of exactly 9.00 to go with his 0-3 record, having given up 17 earned runs in 17 total innings in four starts. Worse, Molitor said, he doesn't seem to be making progress on his obvious weaknesses.
"There's been plenty of conversation about what we feel he needs to do to give himself a better chance, and it's not happening," Molitor said. "First-pitch strikes, trusting his fastball more, attacking, those type of things. He starts feeling for his pitches a little bit and tries to steer them in there. When he throws it over, they're hitting him and when they're not, he's putting people on base. It's not a good combination."
Gibson took heart from the fact seven of the eight hits he gave up — all but Alex Avila's cannon-shot of a home run — were on the ground, and got through the infield. A few feet in either direction and they're outs, he said.
Maybe, Molitor said. But "they were hit sharply. They were hitting the ball hard."
That doesn't explain the ugly defense. Danny Santana, who ended the first inning by throwing out Ian Kinsler at the plate, opened the second by dropping a fly ball for a two-base error. In the sixth inning, catcher Jason Castro allowed a Michael Tonkin third strike to bounce out of his glove for a passed ball, then threw it past first base, enabling a run to score.
"Obviously we didn't help our cause," Molitor said. "Castro's pretty good back there. You don't expect to see that very often."
They better hope the same is true of the entire homestand.
