News
One bad inning sinks Twins in Chicago
Road-weary Minnesota drops its sixth straight game
By David Just / Special to MLB.com
05/21/09 12:23 AM ET
CHICAGO -- And then it was six.It only took one bad inning for Twins starter Francisco Liriano to watch a lead disappear against the White Sox and send Minnesota to a 7-4 loss, the team's sixth straight.
The Twins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning, but the White Sox answered right back with a seven-run response, capped off by Jermaine Dye's 413-foot grand slam to left field. It was the second home run in an inning that saw Liriano throw 37 pitches as the White Sox batted around.
Liriano (2-5) faced one more batter after Dye's grand slam before being relieved by Luis Ayala.
"I think I overthrow when I've got men on base," said Liriano, who watched his ERA balloon to 6.04. "That's been a big problem for me all year long. So I got to just calm down. I'm rushing too much."
"He was throwing the heck out of the ball," manager Ron Gardenhire added in reference to Liriano's first three innings. "But they put up a touchdown on us after we scored two runs. That's a killer. He's got two outs and he's got to make one pitch to get out of the inning and he just couldn't do it there."
Jim Thome singled to start the fatal fourth inning, and Paul Konerko drove him in with a two-run home run. After Brian Anderson popped out to short, Liriano gave up three straight hits to the 7-8-9 hitters in the White Sox lineup. Two batters later, Dye all but put the game away with his moon shot.
"It looked like he threw one right down the middle [to Dye]," Gardenhire said. "That's a good hitter. You got to get the ball down in the zone. He should be better than that. He's been around enough to stay under control out there. And he didn't do it and it ended up costing us seven runs."
Ayala and Jesse Crain combined to pitch four innings of scoreless baseball in relief of Liriano, having done their job and giving the Twins lineup ample time to scratch its way back into the game. But the only offense Minnesota mustered came on Michael Cuddyer's two-run home run in the sixth.
White Sox starter John Danks (3-3) gave up just the two earned runs in his 5 2/3 innings.
"There was still a lot of game left," Cuddyer said. "As a team it's hard to do, but you can't get down, you have to keep trying to dig yourself out of that hole. The bullpen did a great job to keep them from scoring again but the deficit was too much to overcome."
Four White Sox relievers did their job, too, and held the Twins scoreless. Bobby Jenks came on in the ninth to pick up his ninth save of the season.
The Twins have now lost nine consecutive road games, the first time they've reached that dubious distinction since June 30-July 13, 2003. Minnesota is 4-14 on the road this season.
"Obviously we're a little disgruntled, for sure," Cuddyer said. "We're not OK with what's going on, but at the same time you can't get down, hang your head or feel sorry for yourself, because the league will pass you by if you do."
Cuddyer also pointed out that if there was ever a time to endure a losing streak, it's early in the season.
"This team over the years is definitely not a stranger to going through rough times early," Cuddyer said. "It seems like every year going into late May, early June we're not playing very well. We've done this before. We've been through it. It doesn't make it fun or easy, or anything like that. But we are experienced at fighting out of it and we know it's a 162-game season."
As far as Gardenhire is concerned, it all points back to the starting pitching. The last three starting pitchers have combined to throw just 9 2/3 innings and have surrendered 17 runs. Forgetting everything else, those numbers alone are a recipe for disaster.
"When you keep missing opportunities," Gardenhire said, "and your starters don't [work deep] you're not going to win that many games."
David Just is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
