MINNEAPOLIS _ How appropriate. On the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, the Twins and Athletics played a game that featured one moonshot after another.
Until it mattered.
After a fireworks show's worth of 400-foot blastoffs, and with their most reliable pitcher on the mound, the Twins watched a squibber that traveled all of 107 feet in the air deflect off diving first baseman Ehire Adrianza's glove, scoring two runs and handing the Twins a painful 5-4 loss.
The defeat, Minnesota's fifth in its last six games, cost the Twins a chance to add a little more space to their AL Central lead. Cleveland's six-game winning streak ended with a 1-0 loss to the Royals, but Oakland's ninth-inning rally means Minnesota's lead remains at three games.
The game was full of can-you-believe-it wonders: Mitch Garver slammed a Brett Anderson pitch 410 feet, Nelson Cruz launched one 443 feet, and Miguel Sano blasted one 443 feet. Not to be outdone, Oakland answered with Mark Canha's 424-foot space shot and Ramon Laureano's 413-foot rocket.
But Khris Davis, last year's MLB home run leader, provided the night's biggest, if not most majestic, hit. After Taylor Rogers, who had not allowed a run in his last seven outing totaling 10 2/3 innings, recorded two quick outs, Canha was hit by a pitch. Laureano doubled him to third, setting up Davis' big moment.
He didn't wait long. Davis swung late at a 96-mph fastball, lining it toward right field. Adrianza dove, but couldn't field the ball, and both runners scored as it bounced away, handing Rogers his second loss of the season, and fourth blown save.
The Twins tried to counter with a ninth inning rally of their own, with Max Kepler hitting a one-out single off former Twin Liam Hendriks and Jonathan Schoop doubling him to third. But after Eddie Rosario was denied a chance to provide his second game-winning, pinch-hit three-run homer of the series _ Oakland chose to intentionally walk him _ Garver ended the game with an easy double-play grounder.
It spoiled what had looked like a feel-good night for Minnesota, especially considering Jose Berrios' control was haywire from the start. The Twins' All-Star right-hander failed to earn a victory for the seventh straight start, but still put on a master class of pitching without your best stuff.
Berrios threw a career high 113 pitches, yet didn't complete six innings. He allowed a runner to reach base in all six innings he pitched in, two runners in four of them. He allowed five hits, all of them singles, three walks, and he hit two batters.
Yet the right-hander left the game clinging to a 2-0 lead, thanks to turning absolutely stingy with runners in scoring position, leaving nine A's stranded. Back-to-back strikeouts in the first inning left the bases loaded, a critical ground out snuffed an Oakland rally in the fifth, and Tyler Duffey emerged from the bullpen in the sixth inning to strike out Franklin Barreto, snuffing another rally.
The Twins' inconsistent middle relief gave that lead away quickly once Berrios was gone, however. With a runner on first base, Zack Littell faced the middle of Oakland's order in the seventh, and made a couple of big mistakes. Littell, who had allowed only one home run all season and none in his last 11 innings, shook his head as he watched Canha's blast reach the upper deck in left field, tying the game.
Three pitches later, Laureano bashed a fastball over the center-field fence, and the A's had the lead.
But Oakland's advantage disappeared even faster than the Twins'. Miguel Sano, batting cleanup in the starting lineup for the first time since Sept. 1, led off the bottom of the inning, and when Brett Anderson left a 3-2 slider in the middle of the plate, the burly third baseman pounced on it, tying the game with his 14th homer of the year.
Then came the Twins' version of smallball, a rarity this season. (The Twins have scored 13 of their 19 runs on this homestand via home runs, after all.) C.J. Cron singled off Yusmeiro Petit, went to third on Max Kepler's single off Ryan Buchter, and when Schoop popped a ball down the left field line, pinch-runner Adrianza beat the throw home.
