MILWAUKEE – After the Twins scored six runs against the 2021 National League Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes, their offense failed to capitalize when it had runners in scoring position with no outs in the ninth and 10th innings.
The result is they needed closer Jhoan Duran to pitch two innings in near 100-degree heat Wednesday. Duran kept the score tied in the ninth inning, but he surrendered a walk-off infield single to Brice Turang in the 10th inning as the Twins were dealt a deflating 8-7 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field in a battle between two first-place clubs. The Twins were swept in the two-game series.
The Twins went ahead 7-6 in the top of the 10th on Ryan Jeffers’ two-out infield RBI single, scoring free runner Joey Gallo from third.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Willy Adames opened with a game-tying single to score the free runner, and Adames advanced a base after Michael A. Taylor overran the ball in center field. Duran retired the next two batters, with Adames moving to third on a fly out, and had Turang in a 0-2 count before the Brewers rookie beat out an infield single on a slow chopper to third base.
For the second straight game in Milwaukee, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pulled his starting pitcher after he completed five innings and retired eight straight batters. The circumstances were a bit different than Tuesday because Kenta Maeda had thrown 92 pitches on a steamy 97-degree afternoon.
Despite handing the bullpen a three-run lead, it didn’t hold for long.
Emilio Pagán replaced Maeda in the sixth inning and surrendered a two-run homer to his second batter, Adames. It was the first home run allowed by Pagán in his last 11 relief appearances, a nine-inning stretch. Adames has three homers in his last four games.
Tyrone Taylor, the No. 9 hitter in the Brewers lineup, launched a game-tying solo homer off Twins lefty Caleb Thielbar with one out in the seventh inning. Thielbar left a slider over the heart of the plate and Taylor swatted it 409 feet to left field.
Maeda permitted three runs in five innings, giving up four hits and two walks, but the homers against the Twins’ bullpen spoiled a strong effort from the Twins’ offense against Corbin Burnes, the 2021 National League Cy Young winner.
The Twins hit three homers with two outs off Burnes, the first time Burnes gave up multiple home runs in a start since May 22. Royce Lewis thumped a two-run homer to left field in the third inning, giving the Twins a one-run lead, when he saw a cutter at the top of the strike zone.
In the fourth inning, Taylor dropped a go-ahead, two-run homer over the left field wall that had enough hangtime to make NFL punters jealous. Left fielder Christian Yelich waited at the wall for a couple of seconds before it finally landed beyond his reach.
Kyle Farmer padded the Twins’ lead with a home run to left field in the sixth inning on a first-pitch cutter. It was Farmer’s first home run since July 18.
The Twins totaled only two hits against the Brewers’ bullpen. They had their first two runners on base via a walk and a hit batsman in the ninth inning, but Taylor failed to drop a bunt before he struck out. Brewers closer Devin Williams escaped the jam with a flyout and a strikeout.
All pitchers tried to find ways to combat the sweltering heat. The American Family Field roof was only partially closed because there is no air conditioning. Maeda looked uncomfortable after he hit Mark Canha with an errant splitter in the first inning. Maeda rubbed his right wrist and forearm across his pant legs. He wiped the rosin bag across his forearms. The home-plate umpire, Chris Segal, offered a towel.
The next batter, Andruw Monasterio, lofted a two-run single to left field, but he was thrown out at second base trying to stretch his hit into a double.
