Elly De La Cruz grand slam sinks Twins as Reds roll, 8-4

MINNEAPOLIS — Elly De La Cruz stood in the batter’s box and held the finish from his swing as Twins reliever Jorge Alcala watched his 89-mph slider sail into the right-field seats.

De La Cruz celebrated his first career grand slam. Alcala and the Twins saw the playoff race for the American League’s last wild-card spot tighten after an 8-4 loss in Friday’s series opener at Target Field. The Twins have lost five of their last seven games and 13 of their last 20.

The Twins hold a 2 1/2-game lead over Detroit for the third wild card with 15 games remaining in the regular season. In the American League Central, the Twins sit 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland and 2 1/2 back from Kansas City.

The seventh inning spiraled quickly for Bailey Ober, who entered Friday with two hits and one run allowed over his last two starts.

Spencer Steer, a former Twins prospect dealt to Cincinnati in the Tyler Mahle trade in 2022, opened with a leadoff triple off the right-field wall. On the next pitch, TJ Friedl dropped a picture-perfect squeeze bunt down the first-base line. Ober attempted to flip the ball with his glove to the plate, but there was no realistic play as Steer easily scored the go-ahead run without a slide.

After a mound visit, Ty France drove a first-pitch cutter into the left-center gap for an RBI double. Ober slapped at his glove from behind the plate in frustration when Friedl crossed the plate.

Ober struck out his last two batters, exiting with two runners on base and two outs in the seventh inning. Alcala issued a five-pitch walk to Jonathan India before serving up a grand slam to De La Cruz.

In the same inning, the Reds went from scoring on a squeeze bunt to a commanding six-run lead. Alcala has yielded 10 runs and five homers in his last eight appearances, which spans 6 2/3 innings. When including inherited runners, he’s recorded only two clean outings since Aug. 18, his ERA rising from 2.15 to 3.59. It’s a troubling trend for a guy the Twins want to use in high-leverage situations.

Ober’s change-up was almost unhittable, drawing a staggering 16 whiffs on 23 swings from Reds batters. He still gave up five runs on six hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings, which included a second-inning homer to Friedl, an inside cutter that was lofted into the flowerpots just beyond the right-field wall.

The Twins totaled only two hits in their first six innings against right-hander Julian Aguiar, and one was an infield single. Byron Buxton, playing in his first game since he was activated from the injured list, delivered the second hit when he connected with an inside change-up and bashed it over the left-field fence for a solo homer.

Buxton, thrilled to return after a monthlong absence, ran quickly around the basepaths, clapped twice after touching home plate and pointed to someone in the crowd. Royce Lewis jumped out of the dugout to celebrate with a special handshake. Buxton had a smile whipped across his face while holding the Rally Sausage as he went through a line of high-fives in the dugout, repeating, “Let’s go!” as he passed teammates.

It was Buxton’s 132nd career homer, matching Jacque Jones for 15th place on the Twins’ all-time list.

Trailing by six runs in the seventh inning, the Twins offense finally showed more signs of life. Willi Castro hit an RBI single through the left side of the infield against Reds reliever Buck Farmer, and Brooks Lee poked a two-strike, two-out change-up to right field for a two-run single.

After Edouard Julien softly lined out to third base to end the seventh inning, leaving a runner on first, the Twins didn’t have another baserunner.