The Twins had this one in reach, then watched it slip away in extra innings.
Minnesota fell 5-4 to the Angels in 10 innings on a night that featured an ugly first inning for the defense, a steady stretch from both starters, a late surge from Walker Jenkins, and another bullpen collapse at the end.
The opening frame set the tone for Anaheim. Taj Bradley walked Mike Trout with one out, then the Angels cashed in when Wade Meckler’s grounder to Ben Ross turned into an error.
Moisés Ballesteros followed with an RBI single to score Trout, Denzer Guzman singled to left, and the throw home did not get Ballesteros at second. After Josh Lowe struck out, Oswald Peraza added a two-run single to right to make it 3-0 before the Twins could stop the bleeding.
From there, the game settled in. Rookie Walbert Ureña was sharp for the Angels, holding Minnesota to four hits over seven innings while striking out nine and walking none.
Bradley also recovered from the rocky first, working seven innings and allowing only two more hits while striking out nine. That pushed his strikeout total to 199 on the year.
Minnesota finally broke through in the eighth. Walker Jenkins led off with a single to center, and Ben Ross followed with his first major-league hit, a double off Luke Murphy. After Luke Keaschall struck out, Kurt Suzuki went to Tayler Saucedo, and Brooks Lee delivered a sacrifice fly that brought Jenkins home from third.
Then Jenkins did it again in the ninth. Ben Joyce came on to close, Victor Caratini singled with two outs, and Jenkins launched a homer to tie the game at 3-3. Ross then struck out, sending the game to extras.
The Twins’ bullpen had to carry the load behind Bradley, and Andrew Morris handled the eighth with a clean inning. A.J.
Minter, pitching on consecutive days, took the ninth and struck out two before Josh Lowe ripped an almost-home-run double. Derek Shelton then turned to Jeff Hoffman.
An intentional walk to Adam Frazier put runners on first and second, a double steal during Jose Siri’s at-bat moved both into scoring position, and Hoffman escaped by striking out Siri.
Minnesota briefly grabbed the lead in the 10th. With Ben Ross starting on second, Luke Keaschall singled him to third, and Brooks Lee knocked in the go-ahead run with an RBI single.
Kody Clemens then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners up, but Josh Bell popped out and an intentional walk to Ryan Jeffers loaded the bases for Royce Lewis. He struck out on four pitches.
That set up another rough finish for the Twins’ relief corps. Yoendrys Gomez, coming off the blown save from the day before, started the bottom of the 10th with Jose Siri as the automatic runner for the Angels.
A flyout and a walk put runners on the corners for Trout, who singled in Siri to tie it 4-4. Kody Funderburk came in next and gave up the walk-off single to Meckler.
The teams meet again tomorrow in the second game of the four-game set at Angel Stadium, with first pitch at 838p Central. Connor Prielipp (5-7, 5.24 ERA) is listed for Minnesota, and Grayson Rodriguez (4-7, 6.10 ERA) goes for Anaheim.
Royce Lewis finished 0-5 with four strikeouts.
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