OAKLAND, CALIF. – Lasting until July before experiencing a losing road trip suggests that the Twins have been living right, a reflection of how they stormed to the top of the American League Central division and held one of baseball's best records for most of the season.
But any losing road trip suggests something is wrong, so the Twins headed back home on Thursday following a 7-2 loss to the Athletics looking to rebuild momentum with the three games they have against the Rangers as the All-Star break nears.
"It's a good thing, but it's not a good thing," second baseman Jonathan Schoop said of avoiding losing a road trip for so long. "You know the team is going to go through a rough time, and we're going through a rough time right now. But we will pick it back up."
They dropped two of three game to the A's after dropping two of three to the White Sox. The 2-4 trip allows second-place Cleveland — which whipped Kansas City 8-4 on Thursday — to creep within six games of the division lead. The Twins are 7-10 over their past 17 games.
Jose Berrios, their All-Star Game-bound staff ace, was lifted after five innings. Their offense also let them down, going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Thursday and 4-for-25 in the series.
Despite it all, the Twins were just a swing away from tying the game late. But that was before Mike Morin took the mound in the eighth inning and gave up a grand slam to Marcus Semien, his second homer of the game. It allowed Oakland lefthander Wei-Chung Wang, who relieved starter Tanner Anderson, to win his first major league game.
Former Twins Chris Herrmann and Robbie Grossman were pests. Herrmann had a career-high four hits on Thursday, and Grossman had three hits to finish 7-for-10 in the series.
After three games against the Rangers at Target Field, the Twins will hit the All-Star break. They will be in first place in the AL Central, but not with the commanding 11½-game lead they had at the beginning of June.
They led 1-0 after the first inning on Sunday, the result of Ehire Adrianza being awarded first base on catcher's interference with his swing. The bases were loaded when Schoop hammered a drive to the left-center field gap, but A's center fielder Ramon Laureano — who catches everything — ran it down to end the inning.
"I knew it was in the gap," Schoop said, "And then he catches it."
Herrmann hit an RBI single in the fourth, but the Twins answered when Adrianza singled in Cruz in the top of the fifth to put the Twins ahead 2-1. But Berrios lost his command in the bottom of the inning, giving up a leadoff homer to Semien before loading the bases with no outs. He gave up a run during a double play, then got out of the inning, which was the best-case scenario.
"I just wasn't executing pitches there in that inning," Berrios said.
It was still 3-2 A's in the eighth, where the Twins couldn't scratch up another run to tie the game. Then Morin gave up singles to Grossman and Herrmann before plunking Jurickson Profar.
The first pitch to Semien was a changeup. Bang. Zoom. Happy July 4th.
Berrios was asked about his performance during the first half of the season. His answer could summarize how the entire team fared: "I didn't finish the way I wanted to, but I feel good overall. Just going to get prepared for the second half that promises a lot of things for us. And just get ready for that."
