Down the Coast

Although the Twins depart Seattle with a lost series, they easily could have collected two wins. The numbers from Friday and Saturday are frighteningly similar. On Friday, an effective Francisco Liriano gave up one earned run over six innings, recording a WPA of 0.25. On Saturday, Nick Blackburn logged an even better start, giving up one earned run over seven innings, earning a WPA of 0.30. Offensively, the Twins had eight hits and left ten runners on base on Friday; on Saturday, they collected nine hits and left nine runners on base. The team batted better with runners in scoring position on Saturday than on Friday. Each of these stats suggest that the Twins should have won the second of the two games when in fact the opposite occurred. The key difference was a timely hit by Matt Tolbert / error by Balentin in extras on Friday and an untimely earned run given up by Sean Henn in the eighth on Saturday. While it's unfortunate that Minnesota couldn't take the first two, it isn't unlucky; they could just as easily have been swept.

Sunday was a different story. Kevin Slowey turned in his second shortest start and gave up his second most earned runs and hits. He allowed three home runs, a season high, and tied his highs and lows for walks and strikeouts, respectively. Neither team was particularly effective; the Mariners and Twins combined to leave 25 runners one base. In the end, the three solo home runs given up by Slowey decided the game.

The Twins can hope that their clutch batting will improve against the A's, who sit at the bottom of the AL West. The 10, 9 and 12 men left on base this weekend were extreme numbers; the Twins have only reached double digits in the category in eight other games (including four in a row against the Yankees). Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden have struggled with RISP this season, allowing opponent OPS averages of .845 and .803 respectively. However, the Twins posted just three runs against Seattle lefties Washburn and Bedard; Minnesota will face Josh Outman, Anderson, and Braden - all southpaws - in the next three games. Hopefully the Twins' lineup will learn to adjust.