At least it was different.

Variety, they say, is the spice of life.  We'd all gotten tired of the Twins losing games because they couldn't score.  I'm sure the Twins were tired of it, too.  So, last night they flipped the script.  Instead of losing because they couldn't score, they lost because they couldn't keep the other team from scoring.

Actually, the difference was balls that went over the fence.  The Blue Jays hit three of them:  a Josh Donaldson two-run homer in the first, a Jose Bautista grand slam in the second, and an Edwin Encarnacion three-run homer in the fourth.  The Twins hit only one, a Miguel Sano two-run homer in the fifth.  For all that Dick Bremer talks about the glory of teamwork and how awesome it is to have three batter combine to produce one run, hitting the ball over the fence is a useful skill that the Twins could use more of.  The Blue Jays certainly used it to their advantage last night.

Tyler Duffey made his major league debut, and was allowed to pitch only two innings.  I'd like to have seen him start the third to see if he could get his feet on the ground:  other than the home run balls, I didn't think he pitched that badly.  On the other hand, the home run balls produced six runs, and Molitor is trying to keep his team in the playoff race, so I really can't be critical of him for making the change.  It's not what I'd have done, but I can't say he was wrong to do it.

Give the Twins credit for not giving up, at least.  It would've been easy to after they got down 9-3.  I pretty much gave up on the game at that point.  But they came back to make it 9-7 and had the tying run in scoring position with one out in the ninth.  A base hit would've tied the game, but of course, they couldn't get one.  Still, at least they were fighting until the end.

So the Twins have lost their fourth straight game and need to win tonight just to stay above .500.  In the immediate aftermath of last night's game, I was pretty down on this team, but this morning I realize that's just emotion.  There's nothing wrong with emotion--it's why we're fans, after all--but reason tells me that, just as the Twins weren't as good as they looked in May, they're not as bad as they look now.  They could break out of this cold spell just as quickly as they fell into it.

Maybe it'll happen tonight.  Kyle Gibson, who overall has been a pretty good pitcher this year, goes for the Twins.  The Blue Jays counter with Mark Buehrle, who overall has been a pretty good pitcher for quite a few years.  The Twins are going to start winning again sometime.  Tonight would be a good time to start.  Let's begin that season-ending fifty-five game winning streak!  We'll just have to settle for 109-53!