Tyler Duffey implodes, coughs up Twins' lead against Mariners

A ninth-inning rally sent the Twins to their second straight loss to open the season.

With an eighth-inning moonshot from Byron Buxton, the Minnesota Twins were on the verge of their first victory of the season. But in the ninth, an implosion from Tyler Duffey allowed the Seattle Mariners to rally for a 4-3 victory and dropped the Twins to 0-2.

The Twins got off to a good start against Seattle starter Logan Gilbert, who labored through the first couple of innings. Luis Arraez celebrated his 25th birthday with a solo home run in the first and the Twins loaded the bases in the second with singles from Ryan Jeffers and Nick Gordon before Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch.

But Gilbert was able to get out of the inning after Arraez flied out to Jarred Kelenic. The support could have been used for Sonny Gray, who was solid in his Twins debut.

Gray cruised through the first two innings but started to labor as he went into the third. A double by Ty France tied the game and Tom Murphy gave Seattle the lead with a solo home run in the fourth inning.

Overall, Gray went 4.2 innings, throwing 76 pitches and allowing two earned runs and striking out four. With the Twins down 2-1, their bullpen stepped up with Caleb Thielbar, Joe Smith and Jharel Cotton combining for 5.1 scoreless innings.

This was key as Gilbert settled down on the mound. The right-hander threw five scoreless innings, striking out seven and forcing 14 swings and misses on the afternoon. After retiring the last 10 batters he faced, the Seattle bullpen retired the next six until Nick Gordon drew a lead-off walk in the eighth inning.

That set the stage for Buxton to unleash a 438-foot laser that landed in the third deck of Target Field.

With a 3-2 lead, the Twins gave Duffey a chance for his first save of the season. But Julio Rodríguez smacked a leadoff double and advanced to third on a groundout by J.P. Crawford. Duffey almost got out of the jam by striking out Murphy but Adam Frazier tied the game on an RBI double and scored the winning run on an RBI single from France.

Diego Castillo pitched a clean bottom of the ninth, striking out Miguel Sano and Max Kepler to close out the game.

The Twins will look to rebound on Sunday afternoon when Bailey Ober makes his first start of the season against Marco Gonzales.