From swimmingly to sunk, the Twins' 16-8 loss to Houston on Monday went from an uplifting narrative about coming back from adversity -- the Twins recovering after Sunday's 15-inning loss to Tampa Bay -- to another example of how misery loves company.
Here are some numbers to ponder in the aftermath of the Twins turning their six-run lead into an eight-run loss.
1-659: The Astros had never won a game in which they trailed by six runs or more entering the eighth inning. That statistic was dug up by the Elias Sports Bureau and first revealed by Pedro Gomez of ESPN.
Six times: That's how often the Twins have given up 10 runs or more in their first 47 games. if you think you've witnessed a few of those in person, you're probably right. Five of those losses have come in 28 games the Twins have played so far at Target Field. (Consolation stat: The Twins are 6-3 in one-run games.)
Exploding ERAs: Ryan Pressly, who was initially entrusted to protect the six-run lead, had his ERA go from 6.11 to 8.50 on Sunday by giving up five runs in one-third of an innings. Matt Belisle's ERA is now 8.66 and Drew Rucinski, who has made a couple of fly-ins from Class AAA Rochester, has a 10.38 ERA in his two games. You'll sometimes hear broadcasters and others talk about how relief ERAs can be artificially high because of a single bad outing. But we're now beyond that point with the current Twins.
Outscored late (and badly): The Twins have been outscored 58-29 in the eighth and ninth innings despite have a usually effective closer in Brandon Kintzler. (Consolation stat: Twins have outscored opponents 30-9 in the seventh inning.)
45 minutes, 51 seconds: According to ESPN, that's how long the top of the eighth took, including the 10-minute rain delay that interrupted George Springer's at-bat. Here's a blow-by-blow account of the inning.
And, finally, the video breakdown of the breakdown:
