Twins lose second in a row to Blue Jays as bullpen falters late

The Twins almost always win this year when they score at least four runs and they have a lead after the seventh inning.

Almost.

Griffin Jax left an elevated changeup to Toronto designated hitter George Springer in the eighth inning Saturday, and he muttered to himself as soon as Springer hit it. The ball dropped a few rows past leaping left fielder Willi Castro for a go-ahead, two-run homer, and Springer let out a yell as he rounded first base.

It was the first homer Jax gave up in more than a month, and it was the difference in a 5-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Target Field. The Twins, who lost their first home series since the second week of April, have lost three consecutive games, their longest losing streak since May 2.

“I think it was the right pitch, but I’ve just got to execute better,” said Jax, who gave up only three runs in his previous 20 appearances.

The Twins entered Saturday with a 28-2 record when leading after seven innings, and a 30-5 record when scoring four or more runs.

Springer’s homer came right after the Twins squandered a chance to give Jax some breathing room. In the seventh inning, the Twins loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Chad Green through a pair of singles and a walk. Carlos Correa, arriving at the plate to loud cheers from the crowd of 23,476, flew out to right field.

Addison Barger, the Blue Jays right fielder, opened the eighth inning with a double off Jax. Springer, the next batter, clubbed his 10th home run of the season on a 2-2 pitch. It was the first homer, and just the second extra-base hit, Jax surrendered on his changeup this year.

“We’re not playing poorly,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We did a lot of good things in that game. You want to hold onto that lead. We’ve got to find a way to pad a little bit and put some more runs on the board. We had some opportunities to do that.”

The Blue Jays added a run in the ninth inning against Jhoan Duran. Tyler Heineman hit a one-out single, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a two-out RBI single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Kody Clemens hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom half of the inning, but that left the Twins a run short.

“The last month of baseball has been very nice,” Baldelli said. “Guys have come through in a ton of spots. Today was a game where we just needed to come through probably one more time, on either side of the ball.”

Matt Wallner gave the Twins a one-run lead with a solo homer off Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman in the sixth inning, looping a high fastball over the right field wall. Wallner has three homers in six games since returning from a six-week stint on the injured list because of a hamstring strain.

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Gausman walked Wallner to load the bases, upset he didn’t receive a strike call from plate umpire Chad Whitson on a full-count splitter, which prompted Toronto manager John Schneider to storm out of the dugout for a brief argument with Whitson.

Three pitches after Wallner’s walk, in an 0-2 count, Gausman plunked Ty France on the elbow with an up-and-in fastball to bring in a run. Royce Lewis, the next batter, drew a bases-loaded walk after he started his plate appearance with a 3-0 count, tying the score.

With a reliever warming as Gausman threw 29 pitches in the fourth inning, Clemens grounded into an inning-ending double play.

“Our lineup is pretty deep when we are disciplined, pass the baton to the next guy and have faith in one another that we’re all going to get it done,” Clemens said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t do that today.”

“I was pretty proud of myself for that,” said Paddack, who owns a 2.25 ERA across his past 11 starts. “I had a conversation with myself in the third inning of, ‘OK, get back to that fearless attack mentality.’ I was trying to be too fine there in the first couple innings. I was guilty of that and falling behind.”