​You can read the dek, can’t you? If you can’t, well, an unfortunate sequence of events put the Twins behind and they just didn’t come up with the timely hits you’d hope for later. Inning-by-inning notes: 1) A scoreless first frame, but Zebulon Matthews threw 24 pitches. He averages just a bit over six innings per start, and the Twins own the highest bullpen ERA in baseball, so we’ll be keeping an eye on that. Not too closely, of course; we’ve got bigger worries in life, just sort of watching. Yes, I’m using the royal “we.” I’m the king of you. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement Trevor Larnach opens with a double. In his first plate appearance for the Twins since May 18, Ryan Jeffers hits one to right, and Larnach advances; another flyout by Kody Clemens scores Trevor. Small-ball stuff, or at least a hint of it. Josh Bell doubles, but nothing comes of it except that he gets to adopt a puppy after the game—doubles apparently come with perks. Twins lead 1-0. Now 42 for Zebby. Per Wiki, Matthews attended Smoky Mountain High School, a name tied to the number of students who hotbox in the school’s parking lot. The Twins aren’t doing much either. I suppose a bunch of Twins Hall of Famers are at the ballpark tonight, so there must be a ceremony of some sort this weekend. If you can catch a game, bring a Sharpie and see which intimate body part you can get Kent Hrbek to sign. 3) A two-out, four-pitch walk to the Angels’ fastest runner, Zach Neto. Maybe pitchers do this for a challenge, or it’s a prop bet. Neto doesn’t advance, and his name makes me think of Jared Leto. Did you know Jared Leto has a band, 30 Seconds to Mars? It’s a silly band name, but they’ve sold about 15 million albums. I didn’t know that either. See what we learn together? Luke Keaschall is hit by a pitch, and Larnach grounds into a double play. Ryan Jeffers walks. Clemens flies out to left. I zone out. 4) Zebby’s fun continues. A leadoff homer, a double, a runner advances to third on a groundout, and a balk scores the runner. Since the balk rule is meant to curb pitchers from fooling runners with fakeouts, and considering how rarely anyone steals home nowadays, should a lone runner on third be allowed to advance because of a balk? It feels odd. Anyway, the Twins are losing now. View Link Bert Blyleven was slated to appear on the radio in the third inning and finally shows up here with two outs, sounding like his Hall of Fame dinner consisted of Turkey (Wild) with all the stuffing (ice cubes). Halos lead 2-1. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement 5) Wayne Meckler leads off with a single, and Royce Lewis botches a bunt, but everybody’s safe. A little infield-tail duck fart to right loads the bases with no outs. I think Bert might be jinxing Zebby. Nolan Schanuel singles, bases still loaded, nobody out. Flyout to right brings in an RBI; then a 1-4-3 double play. Could have been much worse; Bert might have jinxed it further by being even more inebriated (allegedly). Tristan Grey leads off with a single, but nothing comes of it. Grayson Rodriguez enters this game with an 8.06 ERA, just to boost engagement SEO. Minimum 500 words.