Tonight, minutes after the Rogers Centre tugboat horn sounded for the 10th time in three nights, the Toronto Blue Jays handed the Twins their second straight loss and fifth in their past seven games.
Jose Bautista's towering blast to left field off Twins reliever Ron Mahay in the eighth inning marked home run No. 10 for Toronto in its three-game series against the Twins. And thankfully for the Twins, Bautista's league-leading 23rd HR would induce the final disdainful horn blow as Minnesota's misery would end soon after with the Jays capping off a five-homer, 8-1 win.
Scott Baker (7-8) took the loss for Minnesota, who will try to regroup before tussling with the division-leading Tigers tomorrow night in Detroit. Baker and reliever Adam Burnett allowed two home runs each as pitchers were pounded and earned runs abounded.
Minnesota's lone run tonight came from Michael Cuddyer - who started at his third different position in three nights - who homered in the fourth. Overall, the Twins hammered out six home runs and 14 total runs of their own this series, but it was not enough to overcome the poor pitching efforts.
Compound the recent Twins woes with Detroit's sweep of the awful Orioles and the white hot White Sox four-game sweep of the Angels, and Minnesota suddenly finds itself trailing its top two divisional foes in third place of the AL Central.
Manager Ron Gardenhire will call upon Francisco Liriano (6-6, 3.32 ERA) to silence some dangerous Detroit bats tomorrow as the Dominican lefty faces off with Tigers ace Justin Verlander for a 6:05 CT start.
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