Jorge De La Rosa shut down the Twins offense as the Royals won the series two games to one. De La Rosa got into trouble early as he loaded the bases with just one out. However, he got Justin Morneau on strikes and Torii Hunter flied out to end the inning with three runners stranded. After that first inning The Twins didn't see a baserunner until the sixth inning when Joe Mauer got his second single of the day. Cuddyer doubled after that to score the only Twins' run of the day.

Ramon Ortiz allowed home run to Ross Gload in the third inning with Tony Pena, Jr. on base. After not allowing a homer in his first two games, Ortiz has now allowed three in his last two starts. He has, however, gone 7+ innings in each of his four starts this season and certainly can't take the blame for today's loss. He allowed 7 hits, but walked none while striking out 4.

Game Notes

• Nick Punto almost got himself out by again sliding head-first into first. He still managed to beat the throw for an infield single.
• Jason Bartlett made his sixth error of the season when he bobbled a ball to his right. He has 6 of the Twins' 8 errors on the year.
• Mauer pushed his batting line to an impressive .393/.472/.525 a 2-4 game at the plate. He had 7 hits in the series, but surprisingly didn't walk once.
• Both catchers (Redmond and Mauer) have been in the lineup for five straight games, which is the first time I can remember that happening. Ron Gardenhire is usually pretty skiddish about having both in the lineup (the DH is lost if an injury occurs and he has to be moved to another position). There's already talk of adding a third catcher, but I don't see it being a need once Rondell White returns from the DL.

The Twins had a chance to carry their momentum from the Seattle series into the 3 games against the weakest team in baseball. Instead, they completely schruted it and now just sit a game ahead of Detroit in the AL central standing. The Twins have another week of intra-division games coming up with 2 against Cleveland, 2 against Kansas City and then 3 in Detroit next weekend.