Grand slam puts Twins in hole they can't escape in 6-5 loss to Red Sox

Grand slams giveth and grand slams taketh away. What matters, Rocco Baldelli said after Xander Bogaerts' rocket-fueled slam ruined an otherwise nearly spotless homestand, is that they're in position to win the AL Central — or more, he said grandly — as the season enters September.

"We have a chance to get basically anywhere. We have all the opportunities in the world in front of us right now," Baldelli said after the Twins' five-game winning streak came to an end with a 6-5 loss to the Red Sox. "We should be pretty pleased with what we have the ability to do."

Yes, the Twins, four games out and spiraling downhill on a six-game losing streak just a week ago, trail the Guardians by 1½ games as the calendar turns, and eight face-to-face meetings remain. First, they must survive a trip to Chicago and (shudder) New York, but that feels a lot more possible than it did before the Giants and Red Sox came to Minnesota, with the help of Nick Gordon's grand slam on Tuesday, got outscored 39-18 over six games.

"Keep playing through September — there's definitely that focus," rookie righthander Joe Ryan said after pitching four good innings and one awful one that cost him his 11th win. "I love the energy each day. Everyone is stoked to be here. No one is talking about plans for the offseason or anything. That's always a good sign."

So is his effectiveness with his fastball, which produced most of his eight strikeouts on Wednesday. Trouble is, he mixed in a few sliders, too, and they cost him.

With the bases loaded in the third inning, Bogaerts lined one more than 113 mph into the flower planters in left field, his sixth career grand slam. Later in the inning, J.D. Martinez sent another slider a half-dozen rows deeper. They were the 18th and 19th home runs Ryan has allowed this year, the byproduct of a being an extreme fly-ball pitcher.

"I could see that it wasn't moving as much as I wanted it to, but I was putting it in spots to not let them do too much damage," said Ryan, who has pitched the Twins to eight wins in the nine games that he didn't allow a home run. "Left [those] in a bad spot. Got away with it probably too many times the first time we played them."

Still, the Twins rallied, as they had in their last four victories.

Luis Arraez responded to the Red Sox's outburst by smacking his eighth homer of the season into the right-field seats, a two-run shot. He lifted a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring home Nick Gordon, too.

And Gordon appeared to reprise his Tuesday role as long-ball hero in the eighth, but probably regrets thinking so in the moment. With Max Kepler and Gio Urshela on base with two outs and still trailing by three, Gordon hit a long and high fly ball to right field off reliever Garrett Whitlock. He stood in the batter's box and watched it fly, then began his home-run trot — until it ricocheted off the wall, about two feet below the top.

The ball bounced past right fielder Alex Verdugo, allowing both Twins baserunners to score. But Gordon, by now running at top speed, was thrown out at third base, ending the inning and erasing an opportunity for Gilberto Celestino to bat with the tying run at third.

"I haven't talked to Nick about it. On that play, and that particular situation, stopping at second is the right baseball play. There are times when you're in the moment and he probably thought he was getting to third relatively easy," Baldelli said. "I bet he wants it back. You hope that ball sneaks over the fence, but he's playing really good baseball still for us."

So is the rest of the team, at least better than they have during a mediocre 14-14 August. Bring on September, Baldelli said.

"It's going to be pretty interesting and a good time. We have a chance to go win our division, if we just go out there and play well," Baldelli preached. "I love knowing we have it right in front of us."