Clutch Batting and Nightmare Inning Cost Twins in Opener Against the Mariners

The Minnesota Twins failed to convert their scoring opportunities Monday night against Seattle, in the series opener, they dropped 11-2. In the first three innings combined, Minnesota had four runners in scoring position. They scored none of them. Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo repeatedly answered the call when the Twins challenged him. Brooks Lee recorded a two-out single in the bottom of the first, followed by Trevor Larnach forcing Woo into his 15th walk of the season. Woo didn’t blink and struck out Carlos Correa to end the pressure. Then, in the second, Ty France smacked a lead-off double. The Mariners then gave the Twins a break, with one out, Harrison Bader hit a chopper to shortstop, and the Mariners' Gold Glove winner, J.P. Crawford, fumbled the ball and allowed France to advance to third along with Bader on first. Once again, Woo came up big in the big moments. He struck out Christian Vázquez and Byron Buxton back-to-back to strand the Twins again.

Missed opportunities caught up to the Twins in the third. Twins starter Bailey Ober had an excellent first two innings, only allowing one base-runner on an HBP. Unfortunately, the third can only be described as a nightmare. Ben Williamson got the inning started with a lead-off single. Then it was the Twins ' shortstop's turn to record an error. Cole Young hit a hard grounder that Correa chased down but made a poor throw to first that skipped by France, which pushed Williamson to third with no outs. J.P. Crawford wasted no time and hit a sacrifice fly to score Williamson to give Seattle the 1-0 lead. With a man still on first, Julio Rodríguez stepped up to the plate and made Ober pay for a pitch that stayed in the zone by destroying it over the left field wall and putting the Mariners up 3-0. The visitors weren’t done yet. Cal Raleigh broke his bat, yet the ball perfectly trickled down the third base line for an infield single. Randy Arozarena hit a single to put two on, and the icing on the Mariners' six-run third-inning cake was a 436-foot three-run home run by Luke Raley.

Minnesota tried to strike back in the bottom of the third. Brooks Lee and Trevor Larnach each got one-out knocks, putting Woo on his back foot for the third straight inning. Correa hit a fly ball on the warning track, advancing both runners to second and third. Woo came out on top of the Twins batters yet again, getting France to ground out and leaving six Twins batters on base in the first three innings. The fourth and fifth innings were an absolute pitching clinic. Both pitchers retired six straight batters, with six of the 12 batters striking out. Woo tied his career high in strikeouts with nine after striking out Buxton in the fifth. Each pitcher finally looked human in the sixth, with Ober surrendering a solo home run to Dominic Canzone and Woo getting hammered by back-to-back home runs by Larnach and Correa to put the score at 7-2 after six.

Ober finished after seven innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts. Truly one of the strangest starts by the Twins starter. He went three up, and three down in four of the seven innings he pitched. Only allowed one hit in any inning that wasn’t the third. The only problem? The third inning happened. Conversely, Woo finished after six, with six hits allowed, and the two solo home runs were the only Twins crossing home plate. The Mariners added four insurance runs in the top of the ninth, highlighted by Cal Raleigh’s two-run homer off Joey Wentz, continuing his impressive home run pace. The Twins' pitching staff had the worst ERA in the majors in June, and tonight did them no favors. The team has allowed nine or more runs in six of the past 11 games. Minnesota has now lost four straight and 10 of the last 11. The Twins will turn to Chris Paddack in tomorrow's game, starting at 6:40 p.m. CST.