The Twins must be terrible tourists. Every time they leave Minnesota for a week, they manage to make their flight home miserable.
Just as they did on their four previous weeklong treks, the Twins on Sunday squandered their chance for an upbeat journey back to Target Field. Emilio Pagán surrendered two singles and a three-run homer to the bottom three hitters in the Blue Jays lineup, and the Twins blew a five-run lead at Rogers Centre, suffering a painful 7-6 loss that foiled their chances at a sweep in Toronto.
"We had a good series overall here," manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters in Toronto, trying to stay upbeat. But he couldn't hide his dissatisfaction over his team's largest blown lead of the season. "Knowing that we had the lead late, it's hard. Those are hard games to walk away from when you don't hold on to a game you should have."
Pagán was the biggest culprit, of course; the righthander, credited with nine saves during his two-season Twins career, now has been charged with nine blown saves, too. Called upon to preserve a 6-4 lead in the eighth, Pagán gave up sharply hit singles to Alejandro Kirk and Santiago Espinal to open the inning, then fell behind No. 9 hitter Cavan Biggio with two fastballs above the strike zone.
His next pitch was another fastball, this time right down the middle. Biggio deposited it deep into the right-field seats, 423 feet away.
Baldelli, mindful of Pagán's unfortunate track record in crucial moments, has handed the veteran reliever only two leads of fewer than four runs to protect this season. In each of them, including a loss at Dodger Stadium on May 17, Pagán has immediately put two runners on base and then surrendered a game-losing homer. In Los Angeles, it was a grand slam to James Outman — the last time Pagán had given up a run before Sunday.
"We didn't get it done. It's disappointing when you have a lead and you can't hold it," Baldelli said. "The sweep, when you have it in your hand, is what you want. And walking away without it, definitely disappointing."
The loss finished off a 2-4 Eastern Division road trip that included a sweep at the hands of the Rays in Florida, then two encouraging wins in Canada. But they couldn't finish it off. The Twins opened the season with a sweep of the Royals, but they have not swept a series since then, and dropped back to .500 at 33-33 with Sunday's loss.
That failure was especially disappointing, considering the game started so well against the Blue Jays' best pitcher. Kevin Gausman's 2.63 ERA entering Sunday ranked among MLB's 10 best, but when the first six Twins batters collected four hits and two walks, Gausman gave up four runs before recording an out. Alex Kirilloff doubled home a run, Trevor Larnach lined a bases-loaded single to score two more, and Royce Lewis — who recorded hits in seven consecutive at-bats over two days — singled home another.
“The sweep, when you have it in your hand, is what you want. And walking away without it, definitely disappointing.”
The Twins added two more runs in the fifth, on Donovan Solano's first home run of the season, a solo blast to left-center that was nearly caught by Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho, and a two-out single by Lewis that drove home Carlos Correa.
But three double plays in the first four innings doused potential rallies, and the Twins failed to convert Correa's leadoff double in the seventh into a run. And Baldelli was particularly annoyed by a scoring chance that failed in the sixth, when Alex Kirilloff, batting with two on and two outs, was penalized — with an inning-ending third strike — for not being prepared to hit as the pitch clock reached eight seconds.
Toronto also took advantage of a defensive mistake by Correa to get back in the game. Trailing 6-1 in the fifth with runners on first and third and one out, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a ground ball that Edouard Julien tracked down behind second base and tossed to Correa to retire George Springer. But the shortstop's relay to Kirilloff short-hopped the first baseman and skipped past, allowing Biggio to score — and the inning to continue.
The next batter, Matt Chapman, blasted a Louie Varland fastball beyond the center field fence, closing the gap to 6-4, which is where it stood when Pagán took over in the eighth.
"It's a very consequential play. If we turn the double play, [there are] three fewer runs on the board," Baldelli said. "It's a play we definitely should be making. That's going to happen. That's one of several things that we could have done better in today's game."
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
