The Twins have had a number of low points in June. There was the series they got destroyed by Tampa Bay. There was the games they dropped at home to Cleveland. There was the series they lost three out of four to Detroit.

By the sounds of it, though, Wednesday was the lowest point yet. The Twins lost 3-0 at Atlanta, and they got four hits and struck out 14 times, including eight times against Kolby Allard, owner of a 6.07 career ERA.

Before Wednesday, Allard had made 65 appearances in the majors, and 35 starts, and had struck out eight or more hitters exactly twice. And Wednesday, he did it in 4.2 innings.

Postgame, the players held the dreaded players-only meeting - apparently ordered by the manager - where I assume the pitching staff lined up and pelted the hitters with rotten fruit. In another room, Rocco Baldelli unloaded to the media, by which I mean he gave off his angriest vibes of all: those of a soft-spoken fourth-grade teacher who’s unhappy with his class’s behavior.

At least Baldelli’s quotes indicate he’s been watching the games. “What we’re doing right now is frustrating,” he said, “because that’s madness going out there and doing the same stuff over and over and over again.” He feels just like the fans who turn on the game every day!

Cleveland’s in first place in the AL Central this morning. Avert your eyes, America!

I’m not sure what changes the Twins are going to make, but changes have to happen. I don’t know if that means hitting coach demotions, or a bunch of Triple-A call-ups, or what. Their biggest offenders are their biggest stars; it’s not like they can just demote Byron Buxton and Carlos Correa to send a message. But this quote, from Baldelli, felt pointed: “What we’re doing, just the reliance on ‘Good players just will eventually be good if they stick to their plan’ and things like that, it hasn’t come to fruition to this point,” he said.

I feel like I know who he’s talking about there.

It’s starting to feel like it’s going to be a long second half of the year. Today’s an off day, and then they head to Baltimore to get their heads kicked in some more.

The first round of the NHL Draft was on Wednesday, with the Minnesota Wild not picking until number 21, which rather dampened the thrill for Wild fans. After all, picking that low does tend to mean that there’s not much for exciting players left.

But for a while, anticipation started building, as Gopher recruit Oliver Moore was dropping down the board, and Minnesota fans were getting more and more wild-eyed about the possibility that he’d fall all the way to number 21.

All of which led to a really rough twenty minutes or so. First, Chicago picked Moore at number 19, leading to wailing and gnashing of teeth among Minnesota fans who wanted their team to try to move up and grab Moore as he dropped, and failing that, at least wanted ANY other team to grab him.

Then, when it actually was Minnesota’s turn, the Wild drafted a guy, Charlie Stramel, who’d had a disappointing year for Wisconsin, a terrible team that’s also widely hated here.

The Wild desperately need centers, and Stramel is a center, but it felt very much like the Vikings taking a quarterback because they were determined to take a quarterback, even though there were no decent quarterbacks available.

But on the flip side, Stramel played at Rosemount and grew up as a Wild fan, so it’ll be hard not to root for him anyway. Go, Charlie! Please don’t be another AJ Thelen or James Sheppard or Colton Gilles or (gasps, crosses self) Filip Johannson!

If you were in the Twin Cities on Wednesday, you know that the entire city looked like a restaurant from the 1980s, with a low cloud of smoke enveloping everything. Minneapolis City had to move its scheduled game inside. But Minnesota United played on, facing 1. FC Kaiserslautern in this year’s big international friendly, even though pretty much the whole squad could have used a rest instead.

At halftime, there was a faraway lightning strike that was nevertheless close enough to cause a weather delay.

I’m not sure how many other ways Mother Nature could have come up with to tell the Loons not to play a midweek game.

But hey, the Loons won 2-1, and Ménder García and Sang Bin Jeong both scored goals, and if you had to pick out a couple of Loons who desperately needed to feel what it was like to score a goal in a game, you’d pick those two. So maybe the whole thing wasn’t in vain, even if everyone involved was up too late and ended up with dirty lungs.

The St. Paul Saints, at least, started off the second half with a win. Jair Camargo hit his third grand slam of the year, this time with two out in the ninth inning and the Saints down a run, and St. Paul walked off Gwinnett in dramatic fashion.

Jose Miranda also led off the bottom of the first with a homer for the Saints, but Camargo was the hero, driving in six on the night. On the downside, Louie Varland got pummelled on his first start back in Triple-A, allowing six runs on six hits and five walks.

As mentioned, Minneapolis City had to play their home game in Stillwater, rather than Minneapolis, thanks to the total lack of air quality in the Twin Cities. It didn’t go well; Eric Contreras scored, but City lost 3-1 to Thunder Bay. It was the Crows’ fifth loss in seven games this year, to go with just one win.

TONIGHT’S SLATE

LYNX at Seattle, 9pm

AURORA at Green Bay, 6pm
SAINTS vs Gwinnett, 7:07pm

ON DECK

TWINS at Baltimore, Friday
LOONS vs Portland, Saturday

CROWS at Milwaukee Bavarians United Soccer Team, Saturday
MNUFC2 vs Portland Timbers2, Sunday