School’s out for the summer, at least in my neck of the woods, and so today’s Minnesota sports update feels rather wistful for summers gone by. Ah, to be a kid again… back when the Twins could hit.

What can you say about the Minnesota Twins hitting that hasn’t already been said about the Oakland Athletics hitting, or the Cleveland Guardians hitting, or about any of the other disasters of the modern age?

It happened again on Thursday, as the Twins lost 4-2 to Tampa Bay, their fifth consecutive loss. During that losing streak, the Twins scored six runs, and perhaps more tellingly, struck out 52 times versus putting on a total of 39 baserunners.

It’s hard to watch! Carlos Correa hit a home run in the top of the fourth inning on Thursday, but Tampa Bay scored three times in the bottom of the inning, and at that point, you might as well have turned the game off, because Minnesota’s chances of scoring three more runs to win the game seemed vanishingly small.

In the first inning, Jorge Polanco hit a line drive that should have been a hit, but instead hit the second-base umpire and popped into the air, leading to a fielder’s choice at second base - and Polanco hurt himself on the play, too. A lot of people are casting this as sort of a “how typical that this happens to the Twins” kind of bad-luck thing, but I don’t think that’s the truth.

Now that Polanco’s out again, the Twins have exactly one hitter in their lineup, Alex Kirilloff, who has an above-league-average OPS. This isn’t about bad luck. Bad things happen to bad teams because they are bad.

Anyway, the Twins are 31-32 now, under .500 for the first time this season, and now they have to go to Toronto, which has won three straight. It’s not looking good!

Over in St. Paul, the Saints’ winning streak finally came to a thudding halt, but naturally they immediately made up for it, losing the first half of a doubleheader 13-3, but coming back in the second half for a split with a 7-6 win.

Old friend Randy Dobnak took the pounding in the first game, pitching three innings and allowing nine runs (eight earned) on eleven hits and two walks, while striking out no one. Remember when Randy Dobnak was the Twins’ third starter, maybe even their second starter? Anyway.

Simeon Woods Richardson wasn’t much better in the finale, giving up six runs, seven hits, and four walks in three and a third innings, and the Saints trailed 6-2, but they rallied - like many baseball teams do, except for certain other ones - thanks to a homer by catcher Tony Wolters and a Jose Miranda RBI double, eventually sending the game to an 8th inning (seven-inning doubleheaders, remember those?) and winning in the bottom of the 8th.

Miranda was 3-for-7 with a walk on the day, helping to pull his Triple-A OPS out of the 500s. Jair Camargo homered in the first game, his third consecutive game with a home run, and Wolters had three hits and drove in two runs in the nightcap, as the catchers drove the offense.

As mentioned, the Twins are in Toronto for the weekend, and the Saints continue to host Iowa.

Minnesota United FC is also headed to Canada, taking on Montréal on Saturday night, while the Minnesota Lynx are home for a pair - Friday against Indiana, and Sunday against Los Angeles.

In the USL pre-professional ranks, the Minnesota Aurora hit the halfway point of their schedule, on the road against Chicago City SC on Sunday, while Minneapolis City SC hosts Rochester FC on Saturday evening. And for those looking for a little National Sports Center nostalgia, Minnesota United 2 hosts Houston Dynamo 2 on Sunday evening, in MLS NEXT Pro action.