{"id":292868,"date":"2023-10-02T22:50:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/?p=292868"},"modified":"2023-10-02T22:50:02","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T22:50:02","slug":"twins-big-home-runs-send-rockies-to-11th-loss-in-13-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tellmysport.com\/mlb\/twins-big-home-runs-send-rockies-to-11th-loss-in-13-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins’ big home runs send Rockies to 11th loss in 13 games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, prior to the Rockies’ penultimate game of the season, manager Bud Black discussed some of the things his club needs to accomplish during the offseason.<\/p>\n

Naturally, finding better pitching topped Black’s to-do list.<\/p>\n

Then the Rockies took the field and illustrated Black’s point, with exclamation points.<\/p>\n

The Rockies fell, 14-6, to Minnesota before a lively crowd of 40,264 at Coors Field on a perfect late-September night. Colorado, 58-103, is limping toward the finishing line, having lost 11 of its last 13 games.<\/p>\n

The American League Central champion Twins banged out four homers: a grand slam by Trevor Larnach in the third, a three-run homer by Max Kepler in the sixth, a leadoff homer by Matt Wallner in the seventh, and a two-run homer by Edouard Julien, also in the seventh.<\/p>\n

The Rockies’ offense had just three hits and no runs through the first six innings but it came to life in the seventh. Elehuris Montero and Sean Bouchard hit back-to-back solo homers off lefty Caleb Thielbar, and Brenton Doyle blasted a two-run homer off lefty Dallas Keuchel.<\/p>\n

Montero, who’s hit four homers in his last five games, now has 11 homers for the season. Doyle, who had a career-high four RBIs Thursday night against the Dodgers, has now hit 10 homers.<\/p>\n

While the Rockies’ young hitters are making big strides late in the season, the young pitchers continue to struggle with growing pains.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Matt Koch got the start in the bullpen game for Colorado and pitched one scoreless inning, giving way to rookie right-hander Karl Kauffmann, who got the bulk of the work. It was a rough 4 1\/3 innings for Kauffmann, who gave up eight earned runs on seven hits.<\/p>\n

The Twins jumped on Kauffmann in the second, turning a leadoff single by Donovan Solano, an RBI double by Wallner and a run-scoring single by Christian Vasquez into a 2-0 lead in the second.<\/p>\n

The third inning was Kauffmann’s undoing. Alex Kirilloff scorched a one-out double to left and then Kauffman loaded the bases with back-to-back, two-out walks. Larnach made him pay, big-time, with a line-drive grand slam to right field. Larnach laced Kauffmann’s 2-2 slider into the front row above the out-of-town scoreboard. Kauffmann now owns an 8.23 ERA.<\/p>\n

The Twins rocked right-hander Tommy Doyle for six runs on four hits — including three homers \u2014 in 1 2\/3 innings. Doyle has a 6.85 ERA and has served up five homers in 23 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

The Rockies close out their season on Sunday afternoon against the Twins at Coors Field.<\/p>\n

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