OAKLAND, Calif. — The Twins have lost four straight games in walkoff fashion at Oakland Coliseum, Paul Molitor pointed out Sunday morning.
"Sometimes it's really beyond explanation," Molitor said, but the Twins can still salvage a break-even road trip with a win today. That may not sound like much, but Minnesota hasn't had a .500 road trip of two cities or more since early June.
In doing so, the Twins could avoid watching the A's celebrate on the field. Oakland's magic number for clinching a playoff spot is down to one over Tampa Bay. That doesn't really hold much appeal for the Twins' manager, though. "I don't get a lot of satisfaction from spoiling. It's kind of hollow for me," Molitor said. "To try to gain any kind of satisfaction by delaying Oakland's postseason confirmation by a day is not overly rewarding for me. To win is rewarding."
The Twins haven't done much of that away from home. Their road record is 28-52, just one season after going 44-37 on the road. If they lose to the A's today, they will tie the 1986 Twins for second-most road losses in a season; only the 1982 Twins, who lost 58, were worse.
Here are the lineups as the Twins try to avoid a sweep:
TWINS
Mauer DH
Polanco SS
Cave CF
Grossman LF
Austin 1B
Kepler RF
Adrianza 3B
Gimenez C
Petit 2B
Gibson RHP
ATHLETICS
Martini LF
Chapman 3B
Piscotty RF
Davis DH
Olson 1B
Laureano CF
Semien SS
Pinder 2B
Lucroy C
Cahill RHP