TORONTO – David Price put the first three Twins batters on in the fourth inning Monday, loading the bases in a tie game.
He had the Twins right where he wanted them.
Those three baserunners remained right where they were, of course, because the Twins offense is all but powerless lately to move them along. Eddie Rosario popped up, Aaron Hicks looked at a third strike, and Kurt Suzuki swung through a fastball to go down swinging, exacerbating the team's recent habit of blown opportunities.
"A guy of his caliber, when you get opportunities, you get men on with less than two outs, you've got to take advantage," manager Paul Molitor said after the Twins' 5-1 loss to Toronto.
Bases-loaded situations are like rocket fuel for offenses, with pitchers forced to throw strikes and even routine outs driving home a run. Except for the Twins, lately.
Since Trevor Plouffe's grand slam at Oakland on July 17, the Twins have gone 0-for-15 with the bases loaded, striking out seven times, grounding into two double plays — and failing to score even a single run.
Price was facing the right guys: Rosario has struck out in five of his seven bases-loaded at-bats this season, Hicks also is 0-for-7 and Suzuki is 1-for-7, albeit with five RBI.
"You hope they learn. Coming off a couple of walks, Eddie's a free swinger, but he didn't get a good pitch," Molitor said. "Fouled one back that was out of the zone, and then he popped up on a pitch that was out of the zone. And I'm not exactly sure where Aaron was looking to cover early in the count, but … you definitely cannot afford to take that pitch there. You've got to really protect and try to put the ball in play and hopefully at least get one run. And Kurt did a good job, obviously fouled off some tough pitches, but eventually he got beat."