Ugh, Francisco Liriano is 3-4 with a 2.84 ERA over his last 10 starts. Where is the Twins offense on the days he pitches?
Here are three things on my mind following the Twins' 2-1 loss to the Orioles.
1. Frankie's Fastball: Liriano's heater was clocked at 90-92 in the first inning, leading to speculation that he had trouble getting loose. That wasn't the problem. He really wanted to open the game with throwing his fastball for strikes, and took a little off them. Unfortunately, Adam Jones hit a 90-mile an hour fastball 412 feet to left that stood as the game winner. Liriano got through the first inning then hit 94 on the gun in the second. He admitted to trying to ease in strikes but said he got ticked off after the homer and decided to fire away. A little lesson learned -- but his team should have done more offensively.
2. Gardy is sick. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire went home in the middle innings because of a stomach virus. That got us concerned. But acting manager Scott Ullger said after the game that Gardy should be fine and at the park on Thursday.
3. Dozier's bunt. Trevor Plouffe opened the ninth with a single, and Brian Dozier tried to bunt him to second but popped it up for an out. A critical mistake. "It's execution time, and we didn't execute," Ullger said. "It might have been a little up and he popped it up. The kid made a nice play. But still, you can't pop that bunt up." The little things mean a lot in the ninth inning.
