The Twins dropped the series after losing the 3rd game to the Blue Jays by a score of 6 to 3. Mauer, Kubel and Castro had the day off in preparation for tomorrow’s day game in Cleveland (and also because of a LHP tonight).

Shannon Stewart continued where he left off the first two games by leading off the game with a double. He later scored on a fielder’s choice by Hunter.

Carlos Silva pitched 3 strong innings before running into some trouble in the 4th. An error by Tony Batista helped Toronto’s 2-run rally get underway. The Twins added a run in the 5th after Redmond doubled with 2 outs and then Punto singled to drive him in.

The game got away from the Twins when the Blue Jays mounted a 2-out rally against Silva and Juan Rincon. Lyle Overbay tripled, Shea Hillenbrand was hit by a Silva pitch, and then Hinske was walked to load the bases. A couple more hits and a bases-loaded walk by Rincon brought the inning run-total to 4.

In the top of the 7th Batista and Redmond hit back-to-back doubles with 2 outs to bring the Twins within 3 runs, but that’s where the scoring would end.

Notes

• Stewart led off the 8th inning with a single and then stole second. Both Castillo and Hunter failed to move him over.
• Tony Batista made his first official error of the season, but it wasn’t the first time this series that his weak defensive ability at 3rd base has been exploited. Unless he really starts tearing the cover off the ball, he’s gonna get real old real fast.
• Stewart lowered his season average by going 2 for 4 today. He’s been a pleasant surprise this season, but I wonder if he wouldn’t be more productive if he and Castillo swapped spots in the lineup.
• Silva continued the trend of poor starts. Silva walked 2 batters (1 HBP) which is high for him. Let’s hope our 4 & 5 starters can get us on track against Cleveland.

Clearly, the starters just have not been stretched out enough, so all will be fine after each of them gets a couple starts in. The Twins bats kept battling back throughout the game, but just weren’t able to overcome the 6th inning. If it were a couple weeks from now, Silva would’ve been able to get out of that inning with no runs scored.

Willie Eyre made his major league debut and pitched 1 solid inning. Joe Nathan was also brought in in a no-save situation just to get some work. The entire 25-man roster of the Twins has now seen some playing time this season.