With the non-waiver trade deadline fast approaching, Minnesota has yet to make any major moves, because they can’t decide if they’re going to be buyers or sellers.
Saturday nights game in Oakland only further muddied the waters in that regard.
Nick Blackburn, who has drawn mild trade interest throughout the league, continued his struggles last night. In just 4.1 innings, he gave up up 8 runs (7 earned), on 10 hits and 5 walks, struggling with his command all night.
Blackburn flirted with disaster in the second inning before escaping with only two runs given up before getting knocked out in the fifth. It caps a run of terrible outings for Blackburn, who has posted an ERA over 8 in his last 7 starts, and he has pitched only 33.1 innings over that time. That is barely 4.1 innings per start.
The offense wasn’t terrible, spotting Blackburn early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first two innings, but at times Blackburn looked like he was pitching batting practice, as many of his pitches were belt high and right over the plate, begging to be crushed.
And they were. The Twins look for a series win in the rubber game, with first pitch scheduled for 3:05 CST.