Thursday: A bullpen breakdown

The Twins didn't do a lot at the plate Thursday — eight hits and three runs — but it was almost enough. They bunched a single, walk and homer (Joe Crede, above) for three runs in the fourth. Which gives them now 75 runs in 20 day games, or 3.75 per game, which doesn't get it done very often in 21st century baseball.

Nick Blackburn had a three-hit shutout going into the eighth and just 80 pitches thrown, according to the radio guys, so I can't second-guess the decision to leave him in. And while Michael Cuddyer misplayed a single into a triple, that didn't matter in the scoring; Adam Kennedy's homer still would have tied the game.

No, the aspect that should roil Ron Gardenhire's gut tonight was how the ninth inning got away from the bullpen.

The A's had three left-handed hitters due up in the ninth, and Gardy went to Sean Henn, successor to Craig Breslow as the second lefty. (Jose Mijares had pitched Tuesday and Wednesday; this is where the ninth inning meltdown of Tuesday night hurts. Had Baker or Crain gotten through the ninth, Mijares doesn't pitch that night, and would have been available Thursday.)

Henn walked Jason Giambi on four pitches. Control has been the issue for Henn; it's why Minnesota is his third organization. He has now pitched 76.2 innings in the majors, and he's walked 56 and struck out 54.

Beyond that, there's no real reason right now to regard Henn as a LOOGY specialist. Lefties are hitting .294 off him this year; righties, .063. Now, that's a very limited number of batters — 34 total, 17 from each side — but it hardly cried out for Henn to be pulled when Oakland pinch hit for the second batter.

Gardenhire brought in Matt Guerrier, who got ahead of pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki — and then hit hm with a 1-2 pitch. The A's then bunted both baserunners along, and the Twins pulled the infield in, and Rajai Davis chopped the game-winning hit through. That ended the game and the inning, but it sure felt like one of those multi-pitcher, multi-run meltdowns that crippled the Twins last season.

Other comments:

* Jack Hannahan — former Mankato Masher, former Minnesota Gopher — came into the series hitting .179 for the season; he went 5 for 13 ( a double and the Cuddyer-aided triple) and raised his average to .205.

* The Twins' starting outfield was Delmon Young-Cuddyer-Jason Kubel, which is not a particularly impressive defensive alignment. But Blackburn didn't allow a run with that trio behind him; the big inning came after Carlos Gomez entered the game for Kubel.

Oakland 4, Twins 3 (Monday night)

About 10 days ago, there was a lot of chatter about the idea of Anthony Swarzak (right) displacing Francisco Liriano or Glen Perkins in the rotation.

I doubt that was ever seriously contemplated by the people with the responsibility of making such decisions. If it was, Swarzak's performance Monday night did much to discourage such a move.

He was wild. Officially, he threw more strikes than balls — 46 strikes, 35 balls  — but that was strictly because of the generosity of home plate umpire Wally Bell.  He bounced a pitch off Aaron Cunningham's helmet. His ERA is now 5.23, and he has walked nine batters in less than 21 innings in his four starts. 

That's no way to pitch your way into the Minnesota rotation. 

* Swarzak doesn't get the loss on his record; that goes to Luis Ayala, who gave up the home run to Jack Cust that put the A's ahead. I'm still not completely sold on him, but that was the first earned run charged to him since May 18, and he's taken his ERA down from 5.71 to 4.10. He had three strikeouts in 1.3 innings Monday, 21 strikes and just eight balls. It wasn't a horrid outing, but it's an "L" anyway. 

* Carlos Gomez had a very good bases-loaded at-bat in the fourth inning — taking every pitch and walking on the 3-1 pitch to bring home the first run. He supposedly spent the winter working on taking pitches, and I wondered if he's really seeing more pitches per plate appearance this year. Nope. Entering Monday, Gomez was seeing 3.35 pitches per trip to the plate; last season it was 3.41.

Delmon Young — another Twins outfielder with notoriously poor strike zone judgment — is seeing more pitches: 3.59 last season, 3.74 this year. Not that it's helping any. 

*Craig Breslow — speaking of people who've lowered the ERA — had a 6.28 ERA with the Twins, 2.16 since Oakland picked him up. He pitched Monday in the eighth inning; Joe Mauer singled, Justin Morneau flew out, and then the A's brought in a right-hander to get Michael Cuddyer to ground into a DP. Seven pitches for Breslow, four of them strikes. Not real impressive, but it got the job done.

* One final note: Jack Hannahan, former Mankato Masher and Minnesota Gopher, had the big three-run double after Swarzak's wildness set things up in the fourth. 

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The first two rounds of the amateur draft are to be held later tonight (I'm posting this after midnight); for a variety of reasons, personal and professional, I'm unlikely to comment on the Twins picks as soon as I have the past couple of years. I expect to get something up early Wednesday.