The Minnesota Twins had their 12-game winning streak snapped on Sunday with a 9-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox (box score). Minnesota’s 12 consecutive wins served as the second-longest such streak in Twins franchise history, trailing only the 15-game stretch carved out by the 1991 team during the month of June. (That Twins team, for the record, went on to win the World Series over the Atlanta Braves.)
Right-handed starter Joe Ryan held the Red Sox to three runs on four hits and a walk over six innings of work Sunday. Minnesota’s bullpen faltered, however, with Kody Funderburk and Jay Jackson combining to surrender six runs on seven hits and two walks in three frames. Not that it mattered much. The Twins’ lineup, which had plated at least five runs in 10 of those 12 victories, could muster only two runs on Sunday against a combination of six Red Sox pitchers.
Right fielder Max Kepler, designated hitter Trevor Larnach, and first baseman Carlos Santana combined for six of Minnesota’s nine hits on Sunday. Catcher Ryan Jeffers, meanwhile, connected on his sixth home run of the year. Obviously those efforts, while notable on an individual level, were not enough to lift the Twins to a win.
The Twins’ 12-game winning streak is the longest in Major League Baseball this season. No other team has won as many as eight consecutive. The Oakland Athletics, trailing the Miami Marlins at press time, inherited the longest active winning streak, at six games.
The Twins entered Sunday with a 19-13 record, putting them 1 1/2 games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central. Minnesota is now 19-14 on the year. The Guardians won their contest against the Los Angeles Angels, extending their lead back to 2 1/2 games.
The Twins will welcome the Seattle Mariners to town on Monday to begin a four-game set.
