Twins relievers struggle again; Brewers push run home in ninth for 7-6 win

MILWAUKEE – Rocco Baldelli found a lot to admire about the way the Brewers beat the Twins, 7-6 on Tuesday. In fact, he sounded a little jealous.

"They want to get a lead at some point in the sixth, seventh inning and then they turn it over to those guys [in the bullpen]. That's the kind of game they play. They bank on winning games like that," the Twins' manager said after watching Milwaukee's All-Star bullpen hold the Twins with nothing but a harmless walk and an infield hit over the final four innings. "We need to do the same. We need to win games like that, too. I'd like to make it our calling card as well."

That might be up to the front office, with the trade deadline looming next Tuesday. As All-Stars Devin Williams and Josh Hader mowed down the six hitters they faced in the final two innings, Baldelli called upon his bullpen to keep a tie game tied, and … it went well until it didn't.

Tyler Duffey, assigned the ninth inning of a close game for just the fourth time all year, allowed a one-out single to Andrew McCutchen, then walked Kolten Wong on a curve in the dirt, and Hunter Renfroe on a curve well outside.

That set up Luis Urias, who lofted a 2-2 fastball down the right-field line. Alex Kirilloff caught it just inside the foul line, not even 300 feet from the plate, but his throw home from an awkward angle bounced five times before reaching the plate, well after McCutchen had touched it.

Duffey absorbed his fourth loss and the 20th bullpen loss of the season for the Twins; only last season, when they had 23 bullpen losses at this point en route to a last-place finish, have the Twins had more.

The loss narrows the Twins' AL Central lead to 2½ games over Cleveland and three over Chicago, while Milwaukee widened its lead to three games in the NL Central over St. Louis.

"We've been good at times, but it's that consistency we need in order to be a good team," Baldelli said of his bullpen. "To be a good team and to play well in October, I don't care who you are, your bullpen has to be a strength."

For now, the Twins are trying to get by with home-run hitting as their strength, and it was almost good enough on Tuesday.

Whatever the platelet-rich injection did to his sore knee, it certainly didn't affect Byron Buxton's bat. The center fielder's first at-bat since the All-Star Game looked almost identical to his last one on that stage: far and farther. Buxton opened the game by punishing an Ethan Small fastball roughly 450 feet, landing on the walkway behind the left-field seats.

Buxton also doubled off Small in the third inning, igniting a rally that produced two runs when Jose Miranda smacked a double down the left-field line.

"He had a couple good swings and he looked comfortable with the swings he took," Baldelli said. "He looked strong and his lower half looked good. We'll take it."

And the prospect of Buxton facing Small a third time surely worried Brewers manager Craig Counsell, who abruptly pulled the lefthander in the fourth inning with Buxton due up.

That made sense in the moment — veteran righthander Trevor Gott retired Buxton on a long fly ball to end the inning — but cost the Brewers eventually. With two outs in the fifth, Gott walked Kyle Garlick, gave up a single to Jose Miranda, and then left a fastball in the middle of the plate that Gio Urshela hammered over the center field wall, 411 feet away, temporarily putting the Twins back in front.

But all that offense was erased by starter Dylan Bundy, who gave up two homers, and Joe Smith, who gave up one.

Hunter Renfroe drilled a second-inning slider from Bundy for three runs, and Luis Urias rocketed a third-inning fastball into the second deck in right field for another one.

And after the Twins briefly took a lead in the fifth, Kolten Wong sailed a fastball from Smith into the second deck in right field, tying the game and setting up a battle of the bullpens down the stretch.