Apologies needed after Twins run over by Red Sox 13-1

Griffin Jax was fuming, then apologetic, and Willi Castro was confused. The Twins were embarrassed by the Red Sox 13-1 on Wednesday, and the clubhouse afterward was a scene of quiet chaos, everyone wondering what just happened — or, with the trade deadline looming at 5 p.m. Thursday, what would happen next.

“It’s definitely a weird spot right now,” said interested observer Ty France, who like his teammates would find out later the team traded closer Jhoan Duran. “There’s two months of baseball left. We’ve got to figure our stuff out. We’ll see how the next 24 hours goes, and just re-evaluate from there. But [we’ve] got to start playing better baseball.”

That would certainly help, considering how overmatched, occasionally overwhelmed, the Twins appeared against the Red Sox, who handed them their fourth straight series loss since the All-Star break. They scratched out only five hits, surrendered 16, and wrapped up an 11-13 July, their third losing month of the four played so far.

But as dismal as the game was, the ninth inning was downright turbulent.

Trailing 8-1, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sent Griffin Jax, rumored to be one of the top targets of the Twins’ trade suitors, to the mound, with options severely limited after using five pitchers on Tuesday and four so far on Wednesday.

“The rest of our bullpen was beyond taxed and he was the most rested guy. … He was fully good and ready to go,” Baldelli explained. “It was a seven-run game — not a spot you would normally be putting your late-inning guys in, but we needed him to pitch.”

Baldelli sent another trade-rumor subject, Willi Castro, back to his position at second base, but only for a moment. Just before the inning began, he sent France to relieve Castro, with Kody Clemens moving from first base to second.

The result: That entire crowd, and Castro himself, concluding that he had been traded, and that this was farewell.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know. I just got taken out. They haven’t told me anything yet,” Castro said after the game. “It took me by surprise. I saw [Baldelli motion] for me to take it in. Like I said, I don’t know anything yet.”

Twins spokesmen quickly spread the word: There’s nothing to know. No trade. Not yet, anyway.

But if the Castro move was awkward, the Jax move was a debacle.

The Twins’ top setup man was ambushed by the Red Sox, with Jarren Duran lining a leadoff double to right, David Hamilton singling him to third, and Wilyer Abreu scoring him with another single. Under MLB rules, once a team trails by eight runs, it is allowed to use a position player on the mound, so Baldelli hopped out of the dugout and signaled for Clemens to take over for Jax.

“It was just a moment of emotion. I let what was going on around me build up a little bit too much. I was just in compete mode,” Jax said. “I wanted the chance to get those outs because those are my runs out there. I’m competing and I wanted that chance.”

Baldelli stood his ground, and Jax marched to the dugout, his mood only getting worse when Clemens, throwing 60-mph batting practice pitches, immediately gave up a home run to Romy Gonzalez, charging Jax with three runs and tacking more than half a run on his ERA, now 4.50.

But at game’s end, Jax walked into Baldelli’s office and apologized.

“Taking a step back, I understand I can’t go out there and throw 30-40 pitches to selfishly get a couple more outs, making sure my runs don’t score when we’ve got a couple of big series coming up. It was just one of those moments of emotion, fire and a little bit of selfishness on my part.”

Baldelli said he understood Jax’s point, and had no hard feelings.

The game itself was overshadowed by the late-inning strangeness, and by the looming trade deadline itself. It was a shockingly meek showing by the Twins, now 4-8 since the All-Star break, perhaps the product of divided attention, of a clubhouse busy wondering whose uniform they will be wearing by Friday.

The Duran trade happened as the team was flying to Cleveland for the start of a three-game series Friday.

Zebby Matthews followed up his six shutout innings against the Nationals with a surprisingly hittable performance against the Red Sox. Boston pounded Matthews with seven drives hit harder than 100 mph, five of them for hits and three for extra bases. Boston’s first hitter reached base in four of Matthews’ five innings, including Trevor Story’s solo home run to lead off the second.

It all added up to five runs off Matthews, inflating his ERA this season to 5.67 — a challenge the Twins must deal with over the final two months, given that Matthews is likely now ensconced in the Twins’ injury-riddled rotation.