Twins sink D-Backs with 6-homer attack
Arizona watches wild-card lead continue to shrink
MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Twins blasted four balls into the second deck at Target Field on Friday night. The first two drives were estimated at 440 feet, the third at 417 feet and the fourth an astonishing 469 feet. They had a player race around the bases at a record clip for an inside-the-park homer, the same hitter who tripled earlier in the game and doubled later. They rallied from an early deficit, scored 10 unanswered runs and came away with a 10-3 victory.
Their opponent on this night was the Diamondbacks, a team that, for the
game’s final six innings, seemed to exist solely for the enjoyment of their opposition. Their pitchers served up pipeshots for the Twins to demolish. They had poor at-bats in key situations. And they lost, again, allowing nine runs or more for the third time in the past four games.
Throughout the past seven weeks, the Diamondbacks have lost games at a staggering pace. What was once a 10 1/2game lead on a playoff spot has shrunk to four games, with the St. Louis Cardinals winning again and drawing closer to the second wild card.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies moved a game up on them for the top wild-card spot.
“To be honest, I don’t even know about that,” outfielder David Peralta said, referring to the standings. “Because I don’t care about other teams. I care about my team, I care what’s going to happen today, I care about what I can do today to help my team. We don’t care about that; we just focus on playing today and playing the best we can.”
If there were a more alarming game since this free fall began, it’s hard to find it. The night closer Fernando Rodney coughed up a three-run lead in Los Angeles without retiring a batter was more stunning. Their loss of a game they seemed in complete control of in San Francisco was more inexplicable.
But this defeat felt the most sobering, particularly given recent events. The loss was the Diamondbacks’ 24th in 39 games since July 4. The quality of their at-bats with men in scoring position does not seem to be on the upswing, at least not in any consistent fashion. And their bullpen is looking suddenly porous, with 16 earned runs allowed in its past 16 2/3 innings of work.
“There’s some things that are concerning, that are very obvious and apparent,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “When you lose a game, it’s frustrating. You know, you lose a game without execution on the mound, it’s frustrating. That’s what really I’m going to focus on tonight. I know these guys will do the same.”
Miguel Sano crushed a pair of tapemeasure home runs, taking his time around the bases on each. His 469-foot shot in the eighth inning reached the stadium’s third deck. Byron Buxton made a track meet of the proceedings, racing home on a ball that ricocheted away from center fielder A.J. Pollock in 13.85 seconds, the fastest time recorded by baseball’s Statcast tracking system in the past three years.
Right-hander Zack Godley gave up nine hits – six for extra bases, including two home runs – in 5 1/3 innings.
Relievers David Hernandez and Silvino Bracho each gave up a pair of long home runs.
The Diamondbacks jumped to a 3-0 lead off Ervin Santana after two innings. But when the game was still close, in the sixth and seventh innings, they could not take advantage of runscoring situations.
In both innings, they put runners on first and second with a walk and a single. Both times they failed to score. In five at-bats in those spots, they hit three pop outs, one fly out and a doubleplay grounder.
“I think we were probably coming out of the zone a little bit and not staying with our plan that was working so early on,” Lovullo said. “I think those are some key moments where we probably came out of the zone and didn’t create the opportunities we would hope for.”
“To be honest, I don’t even know about that. Because I don’t care about other teams. I care about my team, I care what’s going to happen today, I care about what I can do today to help my team.” DAVID PERALTA DIAMONDBACKS OUTFIELDER, REFERRING TO THE STANDINGS