Twins fall to Angels 6-2 for fourth consecutive loss

A day after Twins manager Rocco Baldelli accused them of playing an “unprofessional series” in Kansas City over the weekend, his players mostly … agreed.

“Something didn’t feel right in that series. It seemed like there was a dark cloud over us. Energy was low,” outfielder Trevor Larnach said. “And then, to that point, Rocco ripped us. I expected that, and it’s probably a good thing. At the same time, you hope it wakes us up.”

Awake or not, something was still not right about the Twins at Target Field on Monday night. The Angels scored twice before David Festa recorded an out, two Angels hitting below .200 for the season connected on two-run homers, and the Twins scratched out only two runs of their own. The 6-2 loss is the Twins’ fourth in a row, sixth in their past seven games, and the eighth time in their past 12 games they have failed to score three runs.

The loss to the American League’s second-worst team likely came as a surprise, and surely a disappointment, to Baldelli, who said before the game that his closed-door rant to his players at Kauffman Stadium was well-received.

“A lot of what I said to them after the game ended up being, actually, pretty welcome,” Baldelli said. “As I sit here right now, I’m enthusiastic. I’m encouraged and I think our guys are going to go out there and play some good baseball — better baseball than we played this past series.”

Well, there were no baserunning mistakes or defensive errors, so that’s progress. But it won’t matter much until the Twins start hitting with authority again.

“It was a quiet night. I definitely wanted to see more,” Baldelli said. “We expanded [the strike zone] a lot. There are still guys trying to do a lot with their swings. When guys feel like they want to do something big, sometimes those decisions get kind of loose and you swing at a lot of pitches you don’t want to swing at.”

Against Reid Detmers, recalled from Class AAA only last week, they struck out eight times in six innings and had only brief moments of success. Michael Helman’s leadoff double in the third inning turned into a run two outs later, when Carlos Santana singled him home. The Twins’ only hit of the night in six at-bats with runners in scoring position ended their 17-inning scoreless streak but still amounted to only their second scoring inning in their previous 36.

Kyle Farmer lofted a fly ball just inside the left-field foul pole an inning later, his fourth home run of the year. But Detmers, who entered the game with a 5.87 ERA, did not allow another run, becoming the sixth consecutive lefthander to start a victory against the Twins.

Minnesota’s starter, the rookie Festa, is on a different type of streak. The righthander absorbed his fourth consecutive loss, getting into trouble right from the start. Festa walked the first batter he faced, Taylor Ward, then gave up a ground-rule double to Zach Neto that bounced into the Angels bullpen. His next pitch, a belt-high fastball to the lefthanded-hitting Nolan Schanuel, was lined to left field, scoring both runners ahead of him.

A double play ended that threat, and Festa didn’t allow another hit until the third inning. But a two-out walk to Schanuel turned into a run when, on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, .165-hitting Brandon Drury launched a 459-foot blast into the upper deck in left-center, his fourth homer of the season.

“Kind of exactly where I wanted it, actually,” said Festa, who allowed four hits in four innings, three of them for extra bases. “Three-two count, he’s just a great hitter.”

Ronny Henriquez relieved Festa and also gave up a pair of two-out runs on a home run by an anemic-hitting Angel. Niko Kavadas, only 5-for-47 (.106) entering the game, clanged a slider from Henriquez off the advertising sign beyond the flower beds atop the right-field wall, his third home run of the year.

The Twins, meanwhile, went hitless over the final three innings against José Suarez and his 8.15 ERA. So no, Baldelli’s hopes were not answered.

Yet, he said.

“Maybe it comes tomorrow, maybe it comes the next day,” Baldelli said. “We’re going to feel good about that when it comes.”