A's 9, Twins 3: Command Absent for De Vries as Offense Can't Convert

On a night where the Twins bashed out 14 hits, if one team was going to score nine runs and the other three you'd expect Minnesota to come away with the nine. Especially if you were then told that the home team's totals were supported by a pair of home runs. But life is funny, sometimes. So is baseball.

Okay, tonight wasn't funny so much as shake-my-head worthy. Denard Span had another rough game in as many nights, following up Friday's performance with yet another error to go along with making an out on the bases. Ryan Doumit joined him in the latter. Still, in spite of two base running gaffs you'd expect a 14-hit outburst (including four extra-base hits) to produce more runs.

When four players reach base to start an inning, including a walk and then three consecutive singles, only in the worst circumstances do you only get one run to show for your efforts. That's the kind of night it was offensively.

On the hill, Cole De Vries didn't have it. He admitted it in the post-game, mentioning that he just didn't feel it tonight. What he did feel was weak, which showed in his command. While he didn't walk anyone, it might have been beneficial to him to not be so around the plate. The Athletics scored seven runs off six hits, three of them long balls.

If you're looking for positives, Tyler Robertson struck out the side in the seventh. Josh Willingham homered again. Brian Dozier hit his fourth homer of the campaign. Every hitter the Twins sent to the plate notched at least one hit, with Span tallying three.

It hasn't been a good start to the second half, but Minnesota has one final opportunity to show up for this series in a few hours. We'll see you there.