Lohse struggles early in loss to Giants
MINNEAPOLIS -- That one bad inning has undone more than a few of Kyle Lohse's promising starts over the past season and a half.
On Wednesday, in an 8-4 loss to the Giants at the Metrodome, Lohse's one bad inning happened to be the first inning. A promising start was immediately wiped out once San Francisco stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first. This was mostly about damage control.
"I didn't really have command of the fastball, so I went to the other stuff a little too early," Lohse said. "That wasn't what we talked about doing. That got me into trouble early."
The struggling Giants had entered the night losers of 15 of their last 17 games. Omar Vizquel began the game with a leadoff single, but Lohse appeared to get crossed up on his next pitch to Todd Linden and stopped mid-delivery. He was called for a balk.
The problem? Catcher Joe Mauer called for a fastball and Lohse realized while winding up that he was gripping the ball for a slider.
"Instead of throwing to the backstop, I went ahead and balked," Lohse said. "It was a miscommunication."
It went downhill from there. Next batter J.T. Snow was drilled in the right knee with another ill-fated fastball and would leave the game the following inning. Moises Alou followed with a single up the middle and Michael Tucker hit a two-run double past a diving Jacque Jones in right field. Pedro Feliz's RBI single made it a four-run deficit for Minnesota.
"He just didn't make enough good pitches," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They hit some balls hard."
Two more hard hits in the third and a Tucker sacrifice fly in the top of the third made it a 5-0 game. San Francisco later added three more runs in the ninth off reliever J.C. Romero.
Trying to dig out of that big hole proved tough against Giants lefty Noah Lowry (3-6). Despite a season checkered with subpar performances, Lowry was effective vs. the Twins by using his changeup and mixing speeds. Although Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer in the fourth, and Lew Ford and Joe Mauer hit RBI doubles in the sixth, Minnesota had trouble putting runners in scoring position, getting just five all night.
"It looked like if we were a little more patient tonight, we probably could have walked a few times," Gardenhire said. "We didn't let it happen. We just had a bad night offensively, as far as chasing too many times."
"It's easy to say that when you're sitting down," countered Hunter. "You don't know what [Lowry] has. You never know anything about these guys. Be patient? He was effective. He's a good pitcher. Why not tilt your hat to the other guy? It's as simple as that. Don't just say we weren't patient. I hate to hear that."
After being on the brink of removal in the third, Lohse managed to get through seven innings, the last four scoreless. Four of his five runs allowed were earned on 10 hits.
"It could have been three innings and the shower," Lohse said. "I battled, made my pitches and did what I could do to stay out there. I tried to give a team a chance to come back. We almost did."
Lohse (5-5, 4.50 ERA) posted four consecutive quality starts from May 18-June 3 and became more effective once he scaled down his repertoire from five pitches to three.
But the one bad inning has started to surface. A three-run fourth inning at Arizona on June 9 led to a 4-3 loss in his previous start. Gardenhire wasn't worried about another pattern developing.
"In all honesty, he hasn't had too many of those," Gardenhire said. "He's been able to control it. Once in a while, it's going to happen. He's been a lot better and done a better job of that."
Source: http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/
On Wednesday, in an 8-4 loss to the Giants at the Metrodome, Lohse's one bad inning happened to be the first inning. A promising start was immediately wiped out once San Francisco stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the first. This was mostly about damage control.
"I didn't really have command of the fastball, so I went to the other stuff a little too early," Lohse said. "That wasn't what we talked about doing. That got me into trouble early."
The struggling Giants had entered the night losers of 15 of their last 17 games. Omar Vizquel began the game with a leadoff single, but Lohse appeared to get crossed up on his next pitch to Todd Linden and stopped mid-delivery. He was called for a balk.
The problem? Catcher Joe Mauer called for a fastball and Lohse realized while winding up that he was gripping the ball for a slider.
"Instead of throwing to the backstop, I went ahead and balked," Lohse said. "It was a miscommunication."
It went downhill from there. Next batter J.T. Snow was drilled in the right knee with another ill-fated fastball and would leave the game the following inning. Moises Alou followed with a single up the middle and Michael Tucker hit a two-run double past a diving Jacque Jones in right field. Pedro Feliz's RBI single made it a four-run deficit for Minnesota.
"He just didn't make enough good pitches," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They hit some balls hard."
Two more hard hits in the third and a Tucker sacrifice fly in the top of the third made it a 5-0 game. San Francisco later added three more runs in the ninth off reliever J.C. Romero.
Trying to dig out of that big hole proved tough against Giants lefty Noah Lowry (3-6). Despite a season checkered with subpar performances, Lowry was effective vs. the Twins by using his changeup and mixing speeds. Although Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer in the fourth, and Lew Ford and Joe Mauer hit RBI doubles in the sixth, Minnesota had trouble putting runners in scoring position, getting just five all night.
"It looked like if we were a little more patient tonight, we probably could have walked a few times," Gardenhire said. "We didn't let it happen. We just had a bad night offensively, as far as chasing too many times."
"It's easy to say that when you're sitting down," countered Hunter. "You don't know what [Lowry] has. You never know anything about these guys. Be patient? He was effective. He's a good pitcher. Why not tilt your hat to the other guy? It's as simple as that. Don't just say we weren't patient. I hate to hear that."
After being on the brink of removal in the third, Lohse managed to get through seven innings, the last four scoreless. Four of his five runs allowed were earned on 10 hits.
"It could have been three innings and the shower," Lohse said. "I battled, made my pitches and did what I could do to stay out there. I tried to give a team a chance to come back. We almost did."
Lohse (5-5, 4.50 ERA) posted four consecutive quality starts from May 18-June 3 and became more effective once he scaled down his repertoire from five pitches to three.
But the one bad inning has started to surface. A three-run fourth inning at Arizona on June 9 led to a 4-3 loss in his previous start. Gardenhire wasn't worried about another pattern developing.
"In all honesty, he hasn't had too many of those," Gardenhire said. "He's been able to control it. Once in a while, it's going to happen. He's been a lot better and done a better job of that."
Source: http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/
