Minnesota continues to slip towards the bottom of the AL Central, and once again, it’s the same old story—poor fielding, a bullpen that can’t hold a lead, and an inability to get a big hit when needed.
It was a night that Carl Pavano pitched one of his best games of the season, but had to endure some shaky fielding. He left after 7.1 innings, and only gave up one earned run.
It did see Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the lineup together for the first time since 2007, though. At least it seemed that long, anyway. Both Mauer and Morneau went 0-4.
The other big return for the Twins was Alexi Casilla, who went 1-2…before tweaking the same hamstring he hurt that got him put on the DL. He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow.
But the big culprit…again…has been the glove of Japanese import Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Nishioka had trouble fielding the shortstop position. And when I say ‘trouble fielding his position’, I mean couldn’t catch a cold while inhaling the Ebola virus. Yeah, Nishioka’s bat was the reason the Twins scored, but his glove gave it back. He was charged with one error, but that’s because his brother must have been the official scorer. He should’ve had three, at least.
Oh, and Michael Cuddyer got hurt. In batting practice. You can’t make it up, folks.