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Several of those bad road habits popped up Thursday during a disappointing 3-2, 10-inning loss to a Kansas City team that’s headed for 90 losses for the eighth time in 10 seasons.
The Twins managed only two runs in five innings against oft-broken down righthander Brandon Duckworth.
They were 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
They wasted a dominant outing by lefthander Francisco Liriano, who retired 15 consecutive Royals at one point and pitched eight innings in the major leagues for the first time since 2006.
And after the bullpen went two games in a row without giving up a run, David DeJesus’ RBI single off Dennys Reyes’ only pitch of the game gave the Royals the victory.
“We’ll go out on the road and see what happens,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.
Really? The Twins just came off of a 5-9 road trip — their longest since 1969 — that included four walk-off losses.
They barely righted the ship at home while going 3-3, blowing two leads against Detroit over the weekend and not hitting against Kansas City on Thursday.
Now they face a 10-game road trip — three games at Baltimore, three at Cleveland and four at Tampa Bay.
Twins fans might be forced to sleep with the light on after watching a few of the upcoming games — the Twins are 0-9 against AL East teams on the road this season. And Tampa Bay leads the East.
“We’re not talking about the past or the future, we’re worried about today,” Twins closer Joe Nathan said “Today was a game we would have liked to win. We’ll go on a good note that we won this series and heading to the road trip, winning two out of three is a good note. We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead. The last time we did that, we all know what happened.”
The Twins enter the road trip one game behind the White Sox, who on Monday will head out on their own 10-game road trip, with the final three games at the Dome on Sept. 23-25.
Kansas City manager Trey Hillman, speaking before Thursday’s game, said the White Sox have better overall pitching and power but believes the Twins will catch them.
“Given the fact that they don’t give as many free passes and they play a little bit better coverage in the outfield, even though the White Sox have better sluggers,” Hillman said, “I like these guys a little bit better.”
There’s no doubt the Twins are talented in those areas. They just haven’t showed it much on the road, where they are 31-40.
If there was ever a time for the Twins to alter their personality on the road, now is the time.
“It’s ten days on the road,” Twins catcher Mike Redmond said. “It’s big and we have a chance to win. Hopefully, we’ll go out (Friday night) and set the tone for this road trip.
“It’s right in front of us. How can you not be fired up when you have a chance to go to the playoffs?”
