Twins mathematically eliminated from playoffs after 10-inning loss to Diamondbacks

Long before the Twins’ 5-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings, the Twins were resigned to their fate as a team that would miss out on the playoffs.

On Saturday night, it became official. The Twins were mathematically eliminated from the postseason, the fourth time they didn’t qualify for the American League playoff field in the past five years.

The Twins raised the proverbial white flag with their massive trade deadline fire sale, shipping away 10 players from their roster at the end of July, and they will spend the upcoming offseason attempting to diagnose what went wrong while undertaking a roster rebuild.

After the Twins won a playoff series in 2023, their first in two decades, they spent the next two years in win-now mode despite ownership cutting payroll. The results were embarrassing. They had an epic collapse in the final six weeks of last season, and they never recovered.

The Diamondbacks, a team that lost in the World Series in 2023, missed the playoffs because of head-to-head tiebreakers last year, and remain on the fringes of the wild card race this year.

Arizona’s long playoff odds remained afloat Saturday after a three-run 10th inning against Twins reliever Cole Sands. The Twins opted to intentionally walk Corbin Carroll with two outs, and it backfired.

Gabriel Moreno, who hit a three-run homer off Sands on Friday, drove in a run on an infield single, and two batters later, Blaze Alexander lofted a two-run double off the wall in right field.

The Twins tied the score 2-2 in the eighth inning. They loaded the bases with one out after Austin Martin hit a leadoff double, Luke Keaschall drew a walk and Royce Lewis reached on an infield single.

Kody Clemens, Friday’s hero after his three-homer performance, lined a two-strike splitter from Diamondbacks reliever Taylor Rashi to right field for a two-run single. The announced crowd of 21,227 roared with approval.

Rashi didn’t give up another run. Brooks Lee struck out, and when Jhonny Pereda was in a two-strike count with two outs, Rashi did a quick pitch as Pereda attempted to signal for time. Plate umpire Edwin Moscoso wasn’t even crouched behind the plate, jumping into position as the pitch was delivered, and Pereda hit an infield pop-up to end the inning.

Pereda turned to Moscoso after he hit the ball, then slammed his bat running up the first-base line.

“I didn’t really love the way that that play unfolded,” Baldelli said. “Edwin behind the plate’s a very good umpire and someone that communicates well. The way that I saw it, Pereda tries to call time, everyone kind of reacted as if time were called.”

They have a .190 batting average when batting with the bases loaded this year, worst in baseball, and their .240 batting average with runners in scoring position ranks 26th out of the 30 teams.

“Not getting runs home from third base, less than two outs, having the bases loaded, that’s always going to be part of the discussion,” Baldelli said. “If you lose and you had all those chances, you’re going to think about that.”

BOXSCORE: Arizona 5, Twins 2 (10)

MLB standings

Joe Ryan, meanwhile, lasted only four innings, the third time in his last five starts he hasn’t pitched into the fifth inning.

His pitch count by inning: 14, 31, 18 and 30.

“I just felt pretty stiff and dehydrated,” Ryan said. “Just trying to find some stuff and figure it out. Trying to make pitches the best I can, but I think it’s just frustrating knowing when you’re on, you’re probably going to get a better result there.”

Ryan threw 18 pitches to his first two batters in the fourth inning, which included a leadoff double to Adrian Del Castillo. Alek Thomas, the third batter of the inning, clobbered a fastball in a 2-0 count over the right-field wall for a 440-foot, two-run homer.

In eight starts since the trade deadline, Ryan has recorded a 4.99 ERA. He had a 2.82 ERA in his first 21 outings this year.

“To be honest, freshness-wise and season-wise, it hasn’t felt too taxing,” said Ryan, whose 161 innings this year are two-thirds of an inning shy of a career high. “I think being sick, being on antibiotics, not being able to get the body to bounce back there, that’s just what it is and it’s frustrating.”