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Alex Kirilloff and Matt Wallner were in the six and seven spots in the Twins’ batting order, right behind red-hot Carlos Correa for Game 3. The hope was Tuesday would be their day, as neither of the lefthanded-hitting 25-year-olds had a hit yet this postseason.
They still don’t.
Kirilloff went 0-for-2 with a strikeout Tuesday and now is 0-for-9 this postseason. Manager Rocco Baldelli sent Donovan Solano to the plate in his place in the bottom of the sixth. Wallner struck out twice Tuesday before drawing two walks. He’s 0-for-8 this postseason; he has reached base four times, though, with three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Houston won 9-1 on Tuesday and now owns a 2-1 series lead in the AL Division Series. Game 4 is Wednesday at Target Field.
Kirilloff and Wallner aren’t the only Twins struggling at the plate this postseason. The team is 5-for-37 with runners in scoring position in these five bonus games, and Correa has two of those hits and three RISP at-bats. That means Twins not named Correa are hitting .088 (3-for-34) with runners in scoring position in these five playoff games.
Baldelli has a decision to make overnight: stick with both of these struggling lefthanded bats, or switch it up. Solano could get the start at first. Wallner’s two walks Tuesday and the fact there’s no obvious sub in leftfield means he likely sticks in the lineup.
Here are other observations from postgame at Target Field:
Alvarez dominant
Houston star Yordan Alvarez did it yet again. His three-hit afternoon included his fourth home run of the series already, a 364-foot shot to right field off Twins reliever Bailey Ober for a 7-1 lead in the ninth inning.
Abreu hit his second home run of the game two batters after Alvarez did in the ninth. This one by Abreu went 444 feet to left-center field, still with Ober on the mound and nobody out.
Urquidy to start Game 4
Astros manager Dusty Baker after the game said right-hander José Urquidy will start Game 4 on Wednesday. Urquidy said he didn’t know he was starting until he was told after Tuesday afternoon’s game.
“I have the confidence,” he said. “I know it’s an important game. For sure I have a good plan for tomorrow.”
He made nine regular-season appearances and pitched at least two innings in eight of those nine. He has been in the playoffs each of the past four seasons, but hasn’t appeared in this series yet.
And now we wait
Now the Twins wait until later Tuesday night to know when they’ll play elimination Game 4 on Wednesday. The originally scheduled 1:07 p.m. start moves to 6:07 p.m. for television if Texas sweeps Baltimore Tuesday night in Texas. Their Game 3 starts soon, at 7:03 p.m. Central time on Fox (Ch. 9 in the Twin Cities).
“I did hear that and it’s unusual,” Baldelli said. “We get used to dealing with a lot of unusual things in our game. Our players are very pliable, whatever you tell them. They’ll be ready to go. There’s never any second thought about it or any excuses or anything like that. If they found out at midnight what time the following day’s game was going to be, they’d be fine.
“We like to pretend everyone’s going to bed at 10:00 at night before games. I don’t think that’s the case.”
Just one
Reliever Kenta Maeda’s seventh inning was the only 1-2-3 inning recorded by a Twins pitcher all afternoon. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the third, seventh and eighth innings.
. . .
Read more postgame coverage of Twins-Astros Game 3 at startribune.com/twins.
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