MINNEAPOLIS _ It didn't take long for the Twins' hot start to be cooled significantly, and for the same reason that seems to chill them every year: The AL East.
For the second straight night, the Blue Jays rallied against the Twins' bullpen, and for the second straight night, it was Teoscar Hernandez doing the damage. The Blue Jays left fielder stroked a two-out single in the seventh inning, driving home two runs to earn Toronto a 6-5 victory at Target Field.
After an optimism-raising 8-4 start to the season, the Twins now own a two-game losing streak for the first time this season, but it's hardly a surprise that an AL East team administered the dose of pessimism. The top four most successful AL teams in Target Field's 10-year history are all from the East, with the Jays improving to 22-11 all-time with Tuesday's victory.
The Twins came a split-second from tying the game in the ninth inning. After Marwin Gonzalez hit his first home run as a Twin, crushing a pitch from Ken Giles 440 feet over the center-field fence, Nelson Cruz walked. After C.J. Cron hit into a force out but beat the double-play relay, and Mitch Garver struck out on a checked swing, Byron Buxton lined a double into the left-field corner. But the Blue Jays got the ball to home plate just ahead of Cron's slide, and catcher Danny Jansen tagged him out.
The worst part for the Twins is that Hernandez's tie-breaker wasted a nice comeback, this one delivered by Eddie Rosario's fourth home run of the season. After back-to-back walks to open the sixth inning, Rosario connected on a 1-0 fastball from Toronto starter Aaron Sanchez, blasting it into the upper deck above the right-center field fence 421 feet away. Rosario's fourth homer of the season turned a 4-1 deficit into a 4-4 tie.
But the Jays struck right back against Twins reliever Trevor May. Eric Sogard smacked a one-out single between two shifted infielder on the right side, his third hit of the night, and moved to second on a ground out. But May walked Randal Grichuk and Justin Smoak, loading the bases.
Manager Rocco Baldelli signaled for Trevor Hildenberger, who has made a specialty of wriggling out of bases-occupied jams so far this year. The sidearmer threw only one pitch, but Hernandez lined it into left-center, scoring two runs before Smoak was caught in a rundown for the third out.
The Twins managed only four hits against Sanchez, but two of them were home runs _ and that's not exactly unusual, either. Along with Gonzalez's home run in the ninth, the Twins now have 20 home runs this season, the most in franchise history through 14 games.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Jorge Polanco, whose .420 batting averaged ranked second in the American League entering Tuesday, walloped a 2-1 fastball onto the place behind the right-field seats.
It looked like it would be enough for Kyle Gibson, who cruised through five innings, giving up just a single and two walks. But the right-hander suddenly became hittable in the sixth. Jansen led off with a single, and Sogard followed with a double. After a strikeout, Grichuk walked to load the bases, and the Twins conferred on the mound. But Smoak followed with a sharp ground-ball single to center, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead.
Baldelli relieved Gibson with Ryne Harper, who retired Hernandez but then allowed back-to-back singles to Rowdy Tellez and Alen Hanson, each brining home a run.
Only 13,365 fans paid to attend Tuesday's game, the second-smallest crowd in Target Field history _ but still larger than the paid crowd of 11,727 one night earlier.
