Hendriks Can't Win, and Neither Can Twins

Last week, with an 8-2 lead, Liam Hendriks couldn't hold on long enough to get the credit for the Twins' 8-7 victory over Kansas City. Friday night, with a 4-0 lead, Hendriks made it five innings, but couldn't hold onto the lead, and Minnesota eventually fell to Cleveland, 7-6.

The Twins got off to a solid start, as Cleveland starter Jeanmar Gomez walked the first two batters of the 2nd inning, and Chris Parmelee plated the game's first run with a sac fly. They followed that up with three more runs in the 3rd, with two scoring on a Josh Willingham double and a Justin Morneau sac fly making it 4-0.

Given this cushion, Hendriks again failed to capitalize. He surrendered a 2-run home run to the legend himself, Russ Canzier, in the 4th, then lost the lead in 5th with a seeing-eye single, a hard-hit double, a hard luck bloop double and a harder luck roller up the third base line doing the damage. But, hey, he didn't lose. I doubt that helps.

The actual loss came in the 7th, when the Twins bullpen and infield combined in a theater of sloppiness that saw walks, a botched pick-off between Morneau and Pedro Florimon, a slow roller with no one covering first , and a bases-loaded walk. I Tweeted that 17 Twins pitched that inning, but apparently it was just four. Regardless: urgh.

Facing a 7-4 deficit, the Twins scratched out a run in the 8th and 9th, but were unable to do any further damage, and that's how you lose a home game to the Indians.

Studs: Josh Willingham. 101 runs batted in is good, and allows him to stand alone.

Duds: Hendriks, because even with the bad luck, come on, guy. And everyone who pitched in the 7th who wasn't Kyle Waldrop.

Enjoy your weekend and TK Day, everyone.