Twins fall to Reds 6-5 for fifth straight loss despite Harrison Bader’s blooper-aided homer

CINCINNATI – The Twins were gifted a three-run homer in the sixth inning Tuesday, a generous offering from Cincinnati Reds right fielder Jake Fraley who deflected a fly ball from Harrison Bader off his glove and into the first row of the stands.

Byron Buxton looked superhuman at times, robbing a potential home run with a leaping catch in the second inning and hitting a home run to nearly the same spot in the third.

None of it snapped the Twins out of their funk. The Twins lost 6-5 in their series opener against the Reds at Great American Ball Park, dropping their record to 36-36. It’s the first time the Twins have fallen to .500 since May 10.

The Twins are on a five-game losing streak, their longest losing skid of the season, and they’ve lost nine of their past 11 games.

“It was a very winnable game for us and we know it,” Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Probably a few things we could have done during the game to help ourselves. Truthfully, it’s a game where we can focus more looking at ourselves and the fundamentals of the game.”

The Twins didn’t help themselves in their third consecutive one-run loss. Their pitchers walked a combined eight batters, tying their second-highest total in a game this year. All six runs they gave up came with two outs. Two runs were unearned after catcher Ryan Jeffers, who exited in the fifth inning with a bruised right hand, dropped a third strike. A pinch runner was caught stealing in a one-run game.

With Jeffers out, former Twins reliever Emilio Pagán walked Buxton in the ninth inning before he struck out Christian Vázquez to earn a save.

Since the Twins went on a 13-game winning streak, they own a 10-16 record and slipped a season-high 10 games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers in the AL Central.

“We’ve got to get in the strike zone a little more,” Baldelli said. “You can’t walk eight people and expect to win any ballgame. Is that the only reason we lost? Of course not. But that’s certainly part of it.”

The Twins erased a three-run deficit in the sixth inning, a rally that started when ex-Twins prospect Christian Encarnacion-Strand committed a throwing error with two outs. Brooks Lee followed with a single, extending his hitting streak to 16 games, and Trevor Larnach rolled an RBI single to center off Reds starter Andrew Abbott in a lefty-on-lefty matchup.

That brought up Bader with two runners on base. Bader lofted a fly ball to right field, and Fraley stumbled as he turned to track the ball. When Fraley leapt in front of the wall, the ball bounced out of his glove and over the fence for a go-ahead, three-run homer.

“Sometimes you make plays, sometimes you don’t,” said Fraley, who dropped his head and bent at the waist. Bader looked surprised as he watched it unfold before smiling at teammates while rounding third base.

It’s a play destined for blooper reels, yet the Twins couldn’t laugh for long.

Pitching with a one-run lead in the sixth inning, Brock Stewart allowed five consecutive batters to reach base with two outs. TJ Friedl dropped a two-run double past diving right fielder Matt Wallner.

The Twins’ bullpen, a strength for most of the season, has posted a 7.26 ERA over its last 11 games.

“We’ll take our chances with Brock right there, of course,” Baldelli said. “Obviously, a tough way to lose the lead when you have that. You’re in a great situation with the right guy on the mound. He was throwing the ball well.”

Twins starter David Festa, who allowed one baserunner through the first three innings, had the fourth inning snowball on him. He walked two of his first three batters, then surrendered a two-out, two-run double to Will Benson on a full-count fastball. Benson laced the 94-mph pitch into the left-center gap, giving the Reds their first lead, three pitches after his foul ball struck Jeffers’ throwing hand.

Jeffers underwent an X-ray, which did not reveal a fracture, the Twins announced.

Spencer Steer extended the inning when he reached on the dropped third strike. Steer struck out on a changeup, but the ball deflected off Jeffers’ mitt toward the backstop, allowing Steer to run to first base. Fraley, the next batter, pulled a two-strike changeup to right field for a two-run single.

“The changeup cut on me,” Jeffers said. “One of those went that way and I missed it.”

Buxton single-handedly gave the Twins an early lead. In the second inning, he timed a fly ball from Benson to the center field wall, leapt above the yellow line and secured the catch with almost no outward reaction.

Twelve pitches after Buxton took away a homer, he hit one of his own. Buxton deposited a curveball from Abbott over the center field wall, about 5 feet farther than the ball he caught, for his team-leading 12th home run.