For six games, the Twins punished their opponents, scoring at least six runs in each game, all victories. But on Wednesday, runs were scarce and a pair of defensive errors ended up leading to the end of the Twins’ winning streak.
The Tampa Bay Rays used a Royce Lewis throwing error in the 10th inning on Wednesday to beat the Twins, 3-2, at Target Field.
In what should have been the last out of a scoreless inning for reliever Jorge Alcalá, Lewis’ throw beat first baseman Carlos Santana, allowing Randy Arozarena to score from second base. Then the Twins fell quietly in the bottom of the 10th.
Another costly error helped the Rays tie the game in the seventh, taking advantage of a rare bad play by Carlos Correa. The Twins appeared to have caught pinch-runner José Caballero trying to steal, but the ball left the shortstop’s glove, allowing him to advance to third base.
He would then score the tying run on a soft single by Yandy Díaz.
A home run by Lewis in the fifth left the Twins up 1-0, their first and only lead of the day, and broke the deadlock in left field.
Lewis hit a home run at 108.7 mph off the screen, causing the section to go black. It’s a price the Twins will surely be happy to pay considering the production they’re getting from their third base hitter, who now has eight home runs in 14 games played this season. Lewis finished the day with three of the Twins’ nine hits.
The Twins scored their only other run in the third inning when Austin Martin scored on Trevor Larnach’s double play. That tied the game at the time after Isaac Paredes hit a home run off starter Joe Ryan early in the inning.
Ryan, facing the organization that traded him as a minor leaguer years earlier, took a no-decision in a game in which he allowed just that one run in his six innings pitched.
