Minnesota Twins swept by Brewers as comeback bid from six runs down falls short

The Twins compiled 18 hits Sunday, matching their highest total in a game this year. Byron Buxton hit two more home runs. Carlos Correa and Brooks Lee both had four-hit games.

All it turned into was another loss. A bad month for the Twins pitching staff snowballed with an ugly outing from David Festa, which was compounded with some defensive miscues.

Down by six runs after five innings to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Twins left the tying run at third base in the eighth inning and at second base in the ninth during a 9-8 loss at Target Field. Swept in the three-game series, the Twins gave up 35 runs in 27 innings.

It was the first time the Twins were swept in a home series this year. Losers in 13 of 16 games, they held a lead for a mere one inning in their three games vs. the Brewers — and it held up for five pitches.

“A lot of things have to change in terms of the way we’re going about the game,” Correa said. “We’ve got to address that internally.”

Pablo López pitched only every fifth or sixth day when he was healthy, but the Twins haven’t resembled the same pitching staff since he injured his shoulder. They have given up at least nine runs in seven of their past 16 games.

Sunday was only the 16th time in team history the Twins recorded 18 or more hits in a loss.

“We’ve got to do a better job of slowing the other team down,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I’m going to try to make some adjustments. Our pitchers are going to make some adjustments. Our defense can do a better job too.”

The Twins opted to use lefty Danny Coulombe as an opener for Festa, one of their adjustments for their pitching staff. The Brewers scored a run in each of the first five innings, and Festa surrendered eight runs on 12 hits and three walks in 4 ⅔ innings.

Lee wasn’t charged with any errors, but he had a rough game defensively at third base. Milwaukee took a lead in the third inning after three consecutive balls were hit toward Lee and they all turned into singles. He bobbled a grounder hit to his left against Sal Frelick, he was unable to barehand a ball on a bunt from Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich chopped an RBI single over his head.

In the fifth inning, Rhys Hoskins hit a ground ball to Lee that turned into a ground-rule double when the ball deflected off Lee’s shin into foul territory. Brice Turang, the next batter, broke the game open with a three-run homer off Festa.

“I felt horrible about how I played defensively,” said Lee, who had trouble seeing Hoskins’ grounder off the bat. “The [Frelick] one, I should make that play. I think that’s almost a 100 percent play for me.”

The Twins also wasted some opportunities. They had five hits in the first inning against Quinn Priester, and it amounted to two runs. Buxton opened with a homer on the righthander’s sixth pitch, Buxton’s third leadoff homer in his past five games.

The Twins followed with four consecutive one-out singles in the first inning, including an RBI hit from Lee, but a lineout and a ground ball stopped them.

Their reward for leaving the bases loaded? Hoskins opened the second inning with a tying homer down the left-field line.

“We have to identify things we need to get better at, and that’s the work that goes in between every outing for our pitchers,” Baldelli said. “Overall, it was a tough day because as you try to gain some momentum back, we kept giving up runs.”

BOXSCORE: Milwaukee 9, Twins 8

MLB standings

The Twins, after they were blown out in the previous two games, nearly rallied from their 9-3 deficit. Buxton homered again in the sixth inning, his sixth homer in his past six games and his second multihomer game in the past four days.

Two runs scored when four consecutive Twins reached base in the seventh inning, bringing the tying run to the plate.

In the eighth, Ty France hit a two-run homer to make it 9-8 before Lee and Correa followed with back-to-back singles. Brewers closer Trevor Megill struck out Jonah Bride to strand the two runners.

Harrison Bader hit a one-out double in the ninth, and the Brewers intentionally walked Buxton as the winning run. Megill pitched out of it, securing a four-out save with a pop-up from Matt Wallner and a strikeout of Trevor Larnach.

“Panicking is not going to fix anything, but you’ve got to recognize that things aren’t going great,” Correa said. “You’ve got to adjust and address them.”