The Minnesota Twins’ troubles with the bases loaded continued as their inability to cash in on a seventh-inning rally cost them in a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon.
Pablo López and Shohei Ohtani dueled to a 1-1 score through the first six innings before Kyle Farmer led off the top of the seventh inning with a single. After Trevor Larnach struck out, Willi Castro singled and Donovan Solano walked to load the bases for Ryan Jeffers.
Jeffers struck out in the following at-bat against Reyes Moronta before Chris Devenski got Joey Gallo to strike out swinging to end the inning.
While both strikeouts featured an expanded strike zone from home plate umpire Jeremy Riggs, the sequence was a continuation of the Twins’ struggles with the bases loaded this season.
Phil Miller of the Star Tribune pointed out that the Twins are hitting just .116 with the bases loaded this season. On the recent six-game road trip, Twins hitters were 0-for-9 with five strikeouts and a walk by Christian Vázquez in Monday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That ineptitude cost López who allowed one run over the first six innings before coming out for the seventh. After Matt Thaiss led off the inning with a walk, Jorge López allowed back-to-back doubles to Zach Neto and Mickey Moniak and that gave the Angels a 3-1 lead.
Alex Kirilloff chipped into the deficit with a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning but Thaiss added an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth that sent the Twins to a 2-4 record on the L.A. road trip.
Carlos Correa went 1-for-4 in the loss with an RBI double in the third inning while Castro went 3-for-4 at the plate. Edouard Julien went 1-for-3 with a walk and Kyle Farmer also went 1-for-4.
Pablo López took the loss allowing two runs on five hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. Jose De Leon closed out the game by allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts over the final 1.2 innings.
The Twins are now 25-22 on the season and will open a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night at Target Field.
