Twins' depleted bullpen predictably falters in loss to Tigers

As it turns out, when you trade away virtually your entire bullpen, it becomes significantly harder to win baseball games. We saw that play out in the Twins' 6-3 series-opening loss to the Tigers on Monday evening in Detroit.

The Twins knew their fire sale before last week's trade deadline was going to make them substantially worse in the short-term. Those moves, in theory, were about the team's long-term outlook (and perhaps about shedding salary before an impending sale of the franchise, too).

After Travis Adams pitched the best game of his young MLB career as the Twins' starter on Monday, scrap-heap pickup Noah Davis got rocked by the Tigers in a decisive sixth inning. Both teams hit three home runs in the game, but the Tigers had a pair of two-run shots, while all three of Minnesota's were of the solo variety.

Adams was perfect through two innings and struck out five consecutive batters in his first major league start. He did give up a two-run homer to Wenceel Perez in the bottom of the fifth, but Adams finished with a very solid line of five innings, four hits allowed, two earned runs, seven strikeouts, and no walks. It was an encouraging sign for a pitcher who had struggled to get outs in his first four appearances with the Twins this season. Adams generated 16 swings and misses.

Ryan Jeffers homered in the first inning and Trevor Larnach blasted one out to right in the fourth. After Perez tied it at 2-2, Matt Wallner gave the Twins the lead back with a 437-foot bomb out to Comerica Park's deep center field. All three homers came off of Detroit starter Casey Mize, who was otherwise sharp over six innings.

Adams was at 63 pitches through five, but he hasn't stretched out beyond that this season. So in the sixth inning, the Twins brought in Davis, who entered the game with a career 8.95 ERA and 1.96 WHIP in almost 60 innings. It went poorly. He allowed back-to-back singles, the Tigers scored a run on a force out, and then Kerry Carpenter destroyed a 2-0 fastball right down the middle for a go-ahead two-run shot. If not for a Matt Wallner outfield assist, the Tigers would've scored a fourth run on Davis, who allowed five hits and a walk in his one inning of work.

The Tigers added an insurance run on a Dillon Dingler homer off of Erasmo Ramirez in the seventh. The Twins, who were out-hit 12 to 6, stranded four runners over the final three innings.

The Twins are 52-60. Tuesday night's game pits Zebby Matthews against former Twin Chris Paddack, who will be making his second start in a Tigers uniform.

More Twins coverage