The Twins loaded the bases with no one out in the 10th and scored just once, making the score 5-5. They struck out again in the 11th with one out and got their only extra-inning hit – but didn’t score. They had two players out in the 12th, but no one was out, and they didn’t even put a runner on third, with the team out after four pitches. And after falling behind by three runs, they scored in the 13th despite properly going out and heard boos from the handful of remaining fans when Carlos Correa tapped back to the pitcher to end the game.

“To have that many baserunners, we did something right. But obviously there’s something missing when we put people on base,” Baldelli said. “We really have problems. I can’t tell you exactly why.”

The Twins finished 18-28 against National League teams this season and now must defeat the Orioles at home, while the Royals go 0-3 in Atlanta or the Tigers are defeated at home by the White Sox. Those long-term scenarios would allow the Twins to clinch a postseason berth for the fourth time in Baldelli’s six-year tenure, and he hasn’t given up.

“I know how we played. But we are not eliminated at the moment. And I don’t think we can get out of this,” Baldelli said. “My intention is to win, be out there tomorrow with Pablo (López) and throw a great game for us. Win our games and see what happens.”