Tigers beat Twins, take series when Minnesota's late-game rally fizzles out

After Louie Varland gave up back-to-back homers in a five-run fifth inning and the Twins offense didn't create much of anything against the first five pitchers they saw in a bullpen game Sunday, there was finally a glimmer of sunshine.

The Twins were gifted a rally in the eighth inning, benefiting from two walks, two hit batsmen and a wild pitch. A five-run deficit flipped into a two-run game with the bases loaded and no outs.

As quickly as the Twins mounted their rally, it fizzled with a flyout and strikeouts from Joey Gallo and Byron Buxton in a 6-4 loss to the Tigers at Target Field. The Twins dropped three of their four games against their divisional rival in the weekend series, dipping their record back to .500.

"Baseball is a hot and cold game," Kyle Farmer said, "and we're kind of lukewarm right now."

The Twins had six straight hitters reach base in the eighth inning but failed to capitalize.

Farmer flied out to shallow left field with the bases loaded. Gallo was ahead in a 2-0 count before he struck out. Buxton entered as a pinch hitter for Christian Vázquez, drawing an ovation from the crowd of 31,221, before he watched a low sinker for a called third strike to end the threat.

Buxton is hitless in 13 at-bats since he was activated from the injured list with eight strikeouts.

"I'm going to bet on Buxton and I'm going to bet on Buxton again next time," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We're going to keep sending him out there and he's going to figure it out."

The Twins continued their struggles batting with the bases loaded. Those three outs dropped them to 10-ffor-59 on the season, a .170 batting average and .237 slugging percentage.

It was another rough start for Varland, who tried to walk a tightrope and pitch around a leadoff triple in the fifth inning with the score tied and the infield drawn in. Varland induced a shallow flyout for step one. Then he had Spencer Torkelson in a 0-2 count.

After misfiring with an elevated fastball and a slider in the dirt, Varland went back to his cutter and Torkelson uncorked a go-ahead, two-run homer that traveled 419 feet. Varland peered toward left field, saw where the ball was headed, and put his glove over his mouth.

Two pitches later, Kerry Carpenter made it back-to-back homers and the wheels were off the tracks for the 25-year-old righty. Varland allowed his final four batters to reach base and they all scored. He's allowed 17 runs in his last 15 innings, one more than he gave up in his first 41 innings to begin the season.

"It comes down to location with me," Varland said, "because I don't have a real plus pitch, so I need to rely on locating pitches and mixing well."

Varland was flirting with trouble earlier in his start. He surrendered an RBI triple to Javier Báez in the first inning, leaving a fastball over the plate in a 1-2 count to a hitter prone to chasing pitches. The first two batters reached base against Varland in the second inning, but catcher Christian Vázquez threw out a runner to end the inning.

It was one of those games when the Twins weren't at their sharpest. Michael A. Taylor, who left the game in the eighth inning after he was hit in the back of the head by a curveball, couldn't corral a couple of line drives in center field. Reliever Jordan Balazovic, who made his MLB debut, struck out Torkelson to end the sixth inning on a called third strike, but most players apparently didn't realize it was either the third strike or the third out, hesitating before returning to the dugout.

Then the eighth inning arrived and it looked like the Twins could steal a victory. Willi Castro injected some life with an RBI double. Royce Lewis delivered an RBI single with the bases loaded. The crowd was back into the game.

"You look at the four-game set and just how many things did we make happen? How many times did we get something going and then push everyone across, maximize our opportunities?" Baldelli said. "We really didn't do that."