Twins' furious rally can't prevent another loss

Jun. 22—The Twins, evidently, were quite happy to see Wade Miley's day reach its conclusion.

A day after Monday's marathon game that lasted more than five hours against the Reds during which the Twins had ample opportunities to put the game out of reach all night long, Miley made sure the Twins had almost no opportunities for the first seven innings on Tuesday afternoon.

But the Twins' offense came alive after the Reds starting pitcher left the game, rallying for five runs in the eighth inning to storm back and tie the score. As exciting as that was for the nearly 20,000 fans in the Target Field crowd, it all wound up going for naught.

Twins reliever Hansel Robles, working for the fourth time in five games, allowed a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to Tyler Naquin as the Reds vanquished the Twins 10-7 at Target Field, snapping their five-game winning streak.

It was a disappointing ending for the Twins (31-42) that came in no small part due to misplays in the field. The Reds (36-36) scored three runs in the eighth off Alexander Colomé — two unearned — before their three-run ninth against Robles.

"When you lose and you look back and give up some runs in clusters, there's an error or two mixed in or plays not made, we have to be able to point to that," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We have to play the game fundamentally sound. We didn't do that as a whole today."

But though the Twins' defense and bullpen could not keep the game in check, the Reds' bullpen, which entered the day with the worst earned-run average in the majors, allowed the Twins to make things interesting after Miley's departure.

The Twins scored just two runs — on a Ryan Jeffers' home run — on five hits against Miley in his seven innings. Miley left with a lead as the Reds scored four runs off Twins starter Bailey Ober in his 4 1/3-inning outing.

"He was exceptionally sharp from the beginning of this game," Baldelli said of Miley. "He didn't give us a chance to get into much of a rhythm and probably seeing some more conventional looking guys coming out of the bullpen, albeit with great stuff, allowed our guys to kind of get back into seeing the ball the way they're used to seeing it."

After falling behind by five runs, the Twins stormed back furiously, using a pair of home runs from Max Kepler, his a two-run shot, and Trevor Larnach to get within striking distance. Miguel Sanó almost tied the game with another home run, missing it by just inches as his long fly ball landed on the padding of the outfield wall. It was ruled a double. Then Alex Kirilloff picked up his teammate with a double of his own that tied the game up.

The Twins couldn't get ahead, however, entering the ninth inning tied 7-7. And though the Reds' relievers have had their fair share of difficulties this season, the Twins went relatively quietly in the ninth against Amir Garrett to drop the series finale.

"We gave up some runs late in each of the last couple of innings and that made it tough, just too much for us to overcome," Baldelli said. "But our guys kept playing, playing hard, and we had a chance."