Twins thoughts: Minnesota’s close-game woes and Zebby Matthews’ nagging foot blister

MILWAUKEE — Kody Clemens saw Luis Lara approach the wall and believed he’d done his job.

At worst, the Minnesota Twins slugger expected an extra-base hit off the right-field fence. If things were truly in his favor, Clemens would soon be trotting around the bases after hitting his second home run of the day.

Instead, Lara tracked down the 348-foot drive and hauled it in before slamming into a support column and collapsing.

Lara’s 10th-inning catch Sunday afternoon was the second of two spectacular grabs by the Milwaukee Brewers’ right fielder, and it proved pivotal in his team’s 4-3 win over the Twins at American Family Field. Minutes later, Jake Bauers slapped a two-strike changeup from Yoendrys Gómez into left field, and Brice Turang slid into home just ahead of Clemens’ throw as Milwaukee claimed a second straight one-run victory, grabbing the rubber match of a three-game series.

Five of the Twins’ last six losses have come by one-run margins, and the team wrapped up a 3-6 trip that dropped Minnesota to 58-61.

“As soon as (Lara) got to the wall, it was like, ‘Hell, yeah, it’s going to be off the wall or over,’” Clemens said. “And he made an unbelievable catch. … It felt like a playoff series. I thought we played them well. We lost those last two games late. Sometimes, that’s how it goes.”

In a game started by Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, the Twins — who struck out 15 times Sunday — played well enough to force extra innings. Even though Misiorowski lit up the radar gun early with a fastball that topped out at 103.9 mph, the Twins managed to rally twice against the two-time All-Star.

Twins third baseman Brooks Lee blasted a score-tying homer off Misiorowski in the fifth inning. Then, in the sixth, Clemens blasted a two-run homer with two outs to tie the score again.

Unfortunately, that’s all the Twins could muster.

Four Brewers relievers limited the Twins to one hit over four scoreless innings. Minnesota stranded runners with the bases loaded twice, as Aaron Ashby struck out Royce Lewis to end the seventh and Abner Uribe retired Austin Martin on an inning-ending fielder’s choice in the eighth. The Twins finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“You’re looking for a break,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “We had opportunities to capitalize on, and we did not capitalize on them.”

To be fair, Brewers hitters didn’t do much with their chances, either.

Lee gave Milwaukee a chance to pull ahead in the bottom of the sixth, when he threw to first base for an out even though he could have tagged the base runner or retreated to third for a force play. But reliever Tommy Nance pitched around it with a weak flyout and a strikeout to strand two Brewers in scoring position.

A.J. Minter escaped a seventh-inning jam. Andrew Morris and Kody Funderburk stranded runners in the eighth and ninth innings as well.

Before Bauers’ walk-off hit on a 1-2 changeup that was low and away, Milwaukee was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“They’re comparable to a team in football that grinds you down,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We’re going to limit their runs and put enough pressure on them, run the bases, play really good defense that eventually they’re going to crack. That’s kind of the brand of baseball they play. … Look at the plays Lara made out in right. They run the bases. They bunt. And that’s how they win. They’re one of the best teams in baseball for a reason.”

After going 1-5 in one-run contests on this trip, the Twins are 14-19 in those contests for the season. If they want to make a postseason run, the Twins need to figure out a way to win close games.

Here are additional thoughts on the Twins after a tough, but entertaining, weekend in Wisconsin.

• The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Twins open a nine-game homestand with series against the Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. After that, they head to San Diego and Sacramento to play the Padres and A’s, followed by 12 straight games against the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox.

• He didn’t start, but Kaelen Culpepper took grounders at shortstop during batting practice and was available a day after he was hit by two pitches. Playing in his second big-league game, Culpepper was hit in the knee and shoulder. He also drew a walk in the team’s losing effort, but with his having only returned from a glute strain July 24, the Twins planned to rest the rookie. Combined with three games at Triple-A St. Paul, Culpepper played in five straight contests. “We knew that when we called him up, we were going to play him the first two days and not play in the third day because he had played in St. Paul before he got up here, before we decided to call him up,” Shelton said. “It’s just part of the progression.”

Culpepper became the fastest player in Twins history to be hit by two pitches, accomplishing the feat in 31 fewer games than David Ortiz.

“That’s insane,” Culpepper said. “That’s pretty good company right there, I guess.”

• If you’re squeamish, stop reading here. Zebby Matthews’ foot issues continue to crop up, and there doesn’t seem to be any easy solution. After taking the mound to warm up for the sixth inning, Matthews exited Friday’s start because the blister on his right foot began bleeding, an issue that also ended his July 4 outing at Yankee Stadium. “That mound in New York was rock-hard because of how hot it was, and he ripped it open,” Shelton said. “We’re trying to laser it to get it to the point where it’s manageable. It’s manageable, but the wear and tear of multiple pitches rips it off.”

Matthews is wearing a pitching toe, an application intended to prevent the shoe from ripping or wearing through when Matthews drags his foot across the dirt. Matthews is frustrated because “we keep covering it, and it keeps ripping.”

With the season in full swing and Matthews starting every fifth day, he can’t sit long enough for the laceration to heal. That forces him to pitch with the cut as long as he can. On Friday, Matthews lasted three innings after things got bad in the second inning.

“I had a small tear in the foot in the second, and it gradually ripped open as the outing went,” Matthews said. “Again, very frustrating. But as a competitor, you want to stay out there and pitch. You don’t want to come out in the third and have the bullpen cover that many innings.”