Twins shut out 1-0 by Kyle Hendricks and the Cubs as road woes continue - Minneapolis Star Tribune

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CHICAGO – The Twins are making it increasingly apparent how critical playing at home may be to their chances of advancing past the playoffs’ first round. Unfortunately for the Twins, they’re proving that point with their play on the road.

Minnesota lost for the 10th time in its past 12 road games Friday, scraping together only three singles while wasting Rich Hill’s finest start as a Twin and falling to the Cubs at chilly Wrigley Field, 1-0.

The loss, the Twins’ fourth in five games so far on this weeklong excursion to Chicago, lacked the drama of their battles with the White Sox across town, because it lacked any offensive energy at all. In a battle of soft-tossers — no pitch reached even 89 mph through the first 7½ innings, while the starters were in the game — Cubs righthander Kyle Hendricks frustrated the Twins all night.

Byron Buxton led off the game with a line-drive single, and he reached third base after a groundout and a wild pitch. But Miguel Sano grounded out to end the threat, and Hendricks simply never allowed the Twins another one. Using an array of changeups, curveballs and sinkers that moved in all directions amid a steady wind at his back, Hendricks limited the Twins to a line single by Jake Cave in the second inning — he was thrown out trying to steal second base — and a popup by Josh Donaldson that fell in short right field as three Cubs fielders raced toward it.

Hendricks (6-4) retired all 12 hitters between those two hits, and four more after them, finishing with eight shutout innings. And even when Jeremy Jeffress relieved him in the ninth, the Cubs put down any Minnesota hopes of a rally in style. Byron Buxton drew a leadoff walk, but before he could try to steal, Donaldson hit a sharp ground ball to second baseman Nico Hoerner, who flipped it to Baez to start a slick double play.

Even then, the Twins weren’t quite finished, with Nelson Cruz drawing an eight-pitch walk. But Eddie Rosario struck out to end the game. It was the second time this season the Twins have been shut out.

The Twins have now scored 11 runs on this two-stop trip to Chicago, five of them in their lone victory on Wednesday.

Hill did his best to match Hendricks, retiring 21 of the last 23 batters he faced, the lone exceptions being similarly harmless singles. But the first three batters that he faced proved to be his undoing, even as he did a masterful job of limiting the damage from the problem he created.

Anthony Rizzo led off the first inning with a walk, and Kris Bryant did the same. Willson Contreras followed by lining a high fastball into enter field, just to Buxton’s right, and Rizzo scored the game’s lone run. But Hill induced Kyle Schwarber into hitting a hard ground ball to Donaldson, who dived into third base to tag out Bryant. Then he struck out Javier Baez and got Jason Heyward to pop up, and the 40-year-old settled into a dominating night.

But the Twins, whose 21 victories at Target Field represent the most home wins of any major-league team, could generate nothing against Hendricks, and missed a chance to regain some ground lost on this road trip. The White Sox lost to Cincinnati, but the Twins could not narrow their three-game AL Central gap. Cleveland outdueled Detroit, so the Twins’ lead for a second-place postseason seeding closed to two games.

And most important to a team that now sports a 10-17 road record, the Yankees were losing in Boston; the Twins apparently squandered a chance to widen their lead over New York to two games in their raced for the league’s best second-place seed, which comes with the right to play all three games of a first-round series at home.

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Twins shut out 1-0 by Kyle Hendricks and the Cubs as road woes continue - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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