It was a heartbreaking loss in extra innings as the Twins got swept, losing 3-2 to Toronto in 11 innings. The team had a number of chances to take the lead, but couldn’t capitalize on any of them. The pitchers were solid throughout, something that hasn’t occurred in the series.
The Twins were able to take advantage of Toronto starter Dustin McGowan’s wildness in the 3rd, drawing 3 walks and Matt Tolbert scored on a wild pitch to cut the Blue Jay lead to 1. Tolbert scored again in the 5th when he was doubled home by Justin Morneau. There were few offensive highlights, as the team only had 7 hits but did get 7 walks, but when they did get on base, they couldn’t finish the job, stranding 15 runners total.
Glen Perkins, in his 2nd start since being called up, was solid. The only trouble he ran into over the 6 innings he pitched was in the 4th, where he gave up 2 runs, although the score would be tied later. He was good otherwise, striking out 6 total in his start. The bullpen shut down the Jays the rest of the way, but faltered when Jesse Crain allowed Scott Rolen to score the winning run in the top of the 11th.
The sweep is obviously a major letdown after the team performed so well in taking 3 of 4 from Boston. The two biggest problems in the series were the Twins falling behind early and when they fell behind not being able to band together and complete a comeback, as they fell short in all 3 games. After scoring a ton of runs in the Boston series, they were only able to put across 10 against Toronto. The perfect cure for this could be coming up as the Twins open Interleague play against the Rockies in Denver.
