Twins make it close, but fall to Mariners for 11th loss in 12 games

The Twins rallied from a five-run deficit against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, capturing momentum for the first time in seemingly a long time, and their reward was yet another painful loss.

Jhoan Duran entered with the score tied in the ninth inning. He hit two batters and gave up a sacrifice fly to Julio Rodríguez that scored the go-ahead run in a 6-5 defeat at Target Field.

The Twins have lost 11 of their last 12 games, including six consecutive home games — their longest home losing streak in nine years.

“The biggest thing I think we’re frustrated in as a team is the streaks,” Twins starter Chris Paddack said. “It’s almost like the 13-game winning streak [in May] didn’t mean anything because of this stretch now.”

The theme lately is self-inflicted mistakes. Duran gave Seattle a free baserunner when he plunked Jorge Polanco with a backfoot curveball in a 0-2 count. Cole Young followed with a single, just out of the reach of second baseman Willi Castro, and Duran hit J.P. Crawford with a first-pitch sweeper to put himself in a terrible situation.

Rodríguez was in a 0-2 count when Duran left a 100-mph fastball over the middle of the plate, which was hit toward the warning track in right field.

“I’ll still look forward to handing [Duran] the ball in tight games, and with leads, and watch him go get the job done because that’s what he does,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Today was a tough one for him. He’s not going to hit too many guys like that, but he’s the guy you want with the ball in his hands.”

There was a sense of déjà vu when Chris Paddack surrendered five runs in the third inning, one day after Bailey Ober labored through a six-run third inning. The Mariners loaded the bases with no outs after two singles and Paddack committed a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt.

“When they’re trying to give you an out, we’ve got to get the out,” Baldelli said. “We didn’t get the out on the bunt. I mean, that’s it. It’s a fundamental baseball play that we have to complete.”

Paddack said third baseman Brooks Lee called him off on the bunt, but he picked the ball up himself because he didn’t think there was much time with Crawford running up the first-base line.

The Mariners turned the extra out into a 36-pitch inning. Rodríguez drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly, then four consecutive batters reached base. Cal Raleigh dropped an RBI single into right field. After a walk reloaded the bases, Paddack plunked Luke Raley to allow another run to score. Donovan Solano, the ex-Twin, capped the inning with a two-run single to center.

“That can’t happen,” Paddack said. “[Lee] called me off for a reason. He said it would have been a routine play. We’re athletes and we’re going to want to get those outs. Unfortunately, I threw it away there.”

Trevor Larnach ignited the Twins’ comeback bid with a ground ball up the middle to begin the fourth inning. Trailing by four runs, Larnach raced to second base for a hustle double. He was just rounding first when Mariners right fielder Dominic Canzone fielded the ball, but Canzone’s throw skipped past Crawford when Larnach dove into the bag with a headfirst slide.

Larnach’s teammates showed their appreciation, cheering wildly at the dugout railing. Then they followed his lead in a four-run fourth inning against Mariners starter Luis Castillo. Two pitches after Larnach’s double, Lee poked a changeup off the plate to left field for an RBI single.

“For players all around the league, that’s a single,” Baldelli said. “That’s a single most of the time, and he presses, and Trevor is standing on second base with a double. Then things start happening. It’s probably not by accident that’s the way it works.”

Ty France grounded into a double play with the bases loaded, but the Twins refused to let their fourth-inning rally fizzle. Kody Clemens, who hit a solo homer in the third inning, followed with a walk before Ryan Jeffers lined a slider to the bottom of the left field wall for a game-tying, two-run double. The announced crowd of 23,532 erupted in a way it hasn’t been able to do for weeks.

It was an impressive turnaround against Castillo, a pitcher who yielded four-or-fewer hits in four of his previous six starts, but the celebrations were short-lived.

The Twins produced only one more hit over the final five innings — a leadoff double from Matt Wallner in the sixth — and they lost for the ninth time in a row when a game was decided by one run.

“Keep the faith, Minnesota,” said Paddack, repeating a message from earlier in the season. “We’re not going anywhere. We’re busting our butts every day. This little funk that we’re in, this little storm that’s happening, it’s going to go away, and good things are going to happen for the Twins here soon.”