MILWAUKEE _ Jose Berrios walked slowly off the mound following the seventh inning Sunday and kicked at the dirt near the foul line as catcher Mitch Garver came over and put his arm around the right-hander.
The Twins had just tied the game at 1-1, but Berrios immediately gave up a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the inning and was in need of consoling.
He's not the only one these days, as the Twins season has fallen apart, with moments like Sunday's _ when they play well enough to barely lose _ happening too frequently.
This time, the Twins lost 3-2 to the Brewers, who scored all of their runs on solo homers off Berrios. The Twins finished 1-8 on their road trip, losing their last six games. They also have dropped eight of their last nine and 11 of their last 13.
Travis Shaw led off the second inning by driving a 1-0 pitch off the second deck in right for his 15th homer of the season. Berrios proceeded to pitch four scoreless innings. That included getting a double play to end the third when Max Kepler caught Christian Yelich's fly ball then threw out Eric Thames trying to advance to second, and getting Thames to fly out to end the fifth, stranding two.
He was rewarded in the seventh, when Brian Dozier led off with a double, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Jorge Polanco's bloop single to left.
Brewers center fielder Keon Broxton made a leaping catch at the wall on a ball hit by the Twins' Brian Dozier during the ninth inning. Despite a later
But Brad Miller hit a 2-0 fastball out to right. Two batters later, Nate Orf got his first major league hit, a home run to left. And Brewers led 3-1.
The ninth inning was interesting. Brian Dozier was robbed of a home run to center by a leaping Keon Broxton. Eduardo Escobar blasted a home run to right to make it 3-2. Then Jorge Polanco singled, bringing Max Kepler up as the lead run.
Kepler swung at the first pitch and flied out to right.
Final 3-2. Playing well enough to lose. The Twins fell to 4-16 in one run games.
Win or lose, the Twins were heading home following a defining moment in their season. They won one game in Chicago against the White Sox and Cubs. They scored 25 runs in three games against the Cubs but lost them all. They went to Milwaukee and went 3-for-20 with runners in scoring position while losing three games to the Brewers.
And it was during this 1-8 road trip that it was learned that the front office intends to be sellers at the trade deadline. It's a punch in the gut as well as a moment of clarity for a team that tried to speak its relevancy into existence despite a storm of injuries, base-running mistakes, hitting droughts and hanging breaking balls.
