Twins lose 6-3 to Dodgers, strike out 15 times in fourth consecutive loss

The Twins don’t want to panic about their offense less than two weeks into the regular season, but they looked helpless against Los Angeles Dodgers righthander Tyler Glasnow on Tuesday.

Entering with an MLB-worst .180 batting average and the second-fewest runs per game (2.88), they tallied three hits and 14 strikeouts in Glasnow’s seven innings. Austin Martin recorded two doubles — the first hits of his major league career — but the other eight Twins starters all struck out at least once.

Glasnow, who matched his career high in strikeouts, became the first pitcher to whiff 14 batters in fewer than 90 pitches since pitch tracking began in 1988.

“If he’s executing pitches the way he did today, he probably beats any team in baseball on any given night,” manager Rocco Baldelli said after the Twins lost 6-3 at Target Field, their fourth straight loss. “I don’t say that lightly. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that about more than two or three guys that I’ve really seen in the last few years.”

It’s the first time the Twins have been winless through their first four home games in 43 years. They started with a 0-4 home record in 1981, the club’s final season at Met Stadium, and they were 0-5 in 1962.

When Glasnow is healthy, he is one of the most talented righthanded pitchers in baseball. The consensus inside the Twins clubhouse, catcher Ryan Jeffers said, was Glasnow delivered one of the best pitching performances they had seen.

“We faced him last year with Tampa,” Jeffers said. “It just felt different today. Whether there are some tweaks he made once he got to the Dodgers, him having a good day, that’s one of those days where you tip your cap and say he was better than all of us today — except Austin, props to him.”

BOXSCORE: L.A. Dodgers 6, Twins 3

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The Twins put only 10 balls in play against Glasnow, and four of their batters struck out at least twice. Glasnow had only one at-bat that reached a three-ball count as he cruised through seven innings in 88 pitches.

“We’re striking out too much,” Jeffers said. “There is no denying that.”

Martin earned his first major league hit in the third inning with a line drive that dropped in front of diving Dodgers center fielder James Outman, and Martin raced to second base to complete a hustle double with a headfirst slide. The hit halted a 26-batter streak without any Twins hitter reaching base, a streak that dated to the fourth inning Monday.

Glasnow struck out the next batter, Edouard Julien, to end the inning. The Twins are hitless in their last 29 at-bats with a runner in scoring position.

“I think a lot of us are feeling good about our process,” Jeffers said. “For me, as an example, I feel great. I felt great this whole season. Nothing has changed for me, spring training to now. I’m hitting the ball on the screws in a lot of my ABs, but it’s just not going that way. I think that’s a lot of the feeling in the clubhouse.”

Twins starter Louie Varland, pitching with no margin for error, surrendered a three-run homer to Outman in the fourth inning and a three-run homer to Will Smith in the fifth inning.

Glasnow exited with a six-run lead, and the Twins finally showed some life offensively. Jeffers hit a solo homer off lefty reliever Alex Vesia in the eighth inning, before Carlos Correa and Alex Kirilloff crushed back-to-back homers off Connor Brogdon in the ninth inning.

“You get a little tired of looking at silver linings and stuff like that,” Baldelli said. “We want more than that. But Glasnow was especially difficult today. I don’t think he can throw the ball much better.”