Twins waste Joe Ryan’s seven strong innings, fall to Marlins for third loss in a row

MIAMI — When Kyle Stowers appeared to be hit by a Joe Ryan fastball in the second inning Tuesday night, the Twins challenged the call. Video showed they were right, and the pitch was ruled a foul ball instead.

Much to the Twins’ regret.

Stowers trudged back to the plate, resumed his at-bat and two pitches later blasted a middle-of-the-plate splitter from Ryan into the right-field seats. It turned out to be the decisive run in the Twins’ third consecutive loss, 2-0 to the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park.

“I probably should have gone inside to him again, but whatever,” Ryan shrugged. “I left that pitch up a little, and he’s a good hitter. But I’ll take that challenge over [putting] a guy on base.”

While the reprieve that Stowers received by being forced to continue hitting was a comical story line to the game, for Twins fans, this night’s results were far more ominous. You can rationalize the lack of offense over the weekend in Detroit, after all, where the Tigers own the second-best ERA in the American League and the best overall record in the majors.

But the Twins traveled 1,400 miles south after that series, and a roughly equal distance down the MLB standings, to play a team that, yes, has now won eight consecutive games but still has a worse record than Minnesota’s. And yet, nothing changed. The Twins managed only two hits Tuesday, never advanced a runner past second base and appeared as collectively befuddled as they have all season.

“We couldn’t muster anything. You could tell with the way the starting pitchers were throwing, it would be a tight game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “They got their big swing, their important swing, and we didn’t.”

The lack of a big hit doomed Minnesota to the 10,000th loss in franchise history, counting the 60 years the team existed as the Washington Senators. The team has won 9,299 games over those 125 seasons and is the second American League team (the Browns/Orioles franchise is the other) to reach five figures in defeat.

Just as they had Saturday and Sunday, the Twins’ first seven times at bat flew by with little resemblance of a threat. The Twins’ offensive totals in the first seven innings since Saturday: two runs, eight hits (six of them singles) and zero excitement.

BOXSCORE: Miami 2, Twins 0

MLB standings

Heck, 18 innings have gone by since a Twin has touched third base.

“We haven’t been playing our best,” Willi Castro said of the Twins, now 6-18 since June 5. “It can come back at any time. We’ve seen it. We’ve just got to keep working.”

Ryan continued to do great, if unrewarded, work Tuesday, allowing only four hits besides Stowers’ home run and no other runs. Ryan, perhaps auditioning for an All-Star invitation to be announced Sunday, hasn’t allowed more than five hits or three runs in his last five starts — and the Twins have lost three of them.

“Joe pitched great. He basically did exactly what he wanted to,” Baldelli said. “We gave up one run for his seven innings of work. Shoot, that’s what you want to see from your starting pitching.”

The Marlins sure saw it from fifth-year righthander Edward Cabrera, who retired 21 of the 24 hitters he faced. Cabrera is having a strong season for the Marlins, having posted a 2.36 ERA in nine May and June starts, but this was a masterpiece. Despite Cabrera continually falling behind in the count, the Twins did little with Cabrera’s mix of sinkers, sliders and changeups.

“He was throwing off-speed pitches, but his changeup is 92 to 96. It’s like a heavy sinker. And when he’s throwing strikes, he’s tough,” Baldelli said. “We had some at-bats where we got ahead and swung at some pitches outside of the zone. We need to be better, tighter, with our swing decisions.”

Cabrera retired the first seven hitters he faced before Royce Lewis, in his first game back from the injured list, punched a chopper down the left field line for a double. Cabrera simply retired the next two hitters, Christian Vázquez and Byron Buxton, on called third strikes, then retired 10 more Twins in a row.

Castro ended the silence in the seventh by beating out an infield hit to third base, then stealing second. Matt Wallner even drew a two-out walk, but Cabrera struck out Brooks Lee to finish his longest start of the season, pumping his fist and shouting for joy as he walked to the Marlins dugout.

The Marlins tacked on a second run against Louie Varland, the first he’s allowed since May 27, 11 scoreless appearances ago. That one came after Jesús Sánchez hit what appeared to be a home run, but video revealed had hit padding and Buxton’s glove, keeping it in play for a triple. Two batters later, Nick Fortes knocked in the insurance run with an opposite-field single.