The good news? The Twins’ home opener is Monday against the Chicago White Sox. The bad news? Everything leading up to this point: the strikeouts, the lack of hitting, lack of pitching and the poor defense, all of which has contributed to the team’s 0-6 start.
Twins manager Paul Molitor:
“We’re going home 0-6 and it stares at you right in the face."— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 10, 2016
And Sunday’s loss was especially hard because the Twins were in control and leading the Royals 3-1 when not only the wheels of the bus fell off, but it drove off a cliff into an active volcano and exploded into an inferno of shame.
In other words, closer Glen Perkins blew the save in the bottom of the ninth and long relief pitcher Trevor May got hung with the loss in the 10th. May had an error in the inning — a poor throw to first base — followed by a wild pitch home which allowed the runner on third to score. Ballgame. The final? Royals 4, Twins 3.
#MNTwins have been outscored 7-1 after the 7th inning this season. Only run was Park homer on Friday.
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) April 11, 2016
As always, there were silver linings:
-Ricky Nolasco: Nolasco did his job and more, giving up only one run on three hits over seven innings. He also had no walks, five strikeouts and left the game with a 1.29 ERA.
-Offense: Yes, I said it. The bats, if not warm, are no longer cold because the Twins banged out 11 hits on Sunday. Joe Mauer and Eduardo Nunez had seven of those hits. Now, if only the rest of the team could hit.
-Kevin Jepsen: Setup man Jepsen, who already has two losses, made a scoreless appearance on Sunday.
Kyle Gibson gets the ball on Monday.