This is one of those games that you just don't need to dwell on. The only positive is there was nothing positive wasted. Nobody pitched well and nobody hit well for the most part.
The Twins lost a series to the team with the worst record in the AL, but they were 1 strike away with no one on base from winning the series yesterday and the A's got an infield hit, a wild pitch and a blooper just over the shortstop to tie the game. So the Twins' inability (bad luck?) in attempting to put away the A's cost them a chance to go for the sweep in this game.
That theme carried over in this game. Watching the first few innings, I really though Tommy Milone had it going. It looked like he was spotting his pitches wherever he wanted to. He had 4 strikeouts in his 2 2/3 innings with no walks, which should be a great formula in Oakland, except it wasn't to be.
With two outs and no one in the second, Milone surprised Danny Santana with a ground ball and his throw on the routine grounder went about 6 feet up the line and Joe Mauer was only able to knock it down and keep the runner at first. The next guy, a backup catcher no one's ever heard of, got out in front on a low offspeed pitch and managed to hook it over the wall for a two-run lead.
The next inning, Milone again got the first two batters out and with two strikes on the batter, hit in the foot with a curveball. Then all h*** broke loose as the next four batters went double, home run, home run single and that was it for Milone and pretty much all she wrote for the Twins, who had little offense in this series, scoring a grand total of 8 runs, four scoring on Trevor Plouffe's grand slam on Friday.
Lousy game, but a cool picture. Because bears are....
cool