This was an ugly night for Twins pitching. First, the Sidney Ponson experiment might be nearing an end. I’d give him one last chance before turning to Matt Garza. Ponson gave up 10 hits through 4 1/3 IP and was charged with 6 of the 11 runs scored by Kansas City. The Twins bullpen also continued its early season struggles. Glen Perkins took over for Ponson in the fifth and allowed3 hits and walk through 1 2/3. Perkins has had inconsistent playing time since being called up, so I’d be curious to see how he does once he gets more innings.

Matt Guerrier ran into his first trouble of the season. He allowed 2 hits a walk and a wild pitch as he pitched the entire seventh and started off the trouble in the eighth without retiring a hitter. the The fall of Dennys Reyes also continued into Friday Night. He was again brought in to face one batter and he managed to hit Mark Teahan with a pitch to load the bases in the eight inning when the game was still within reach. Juan Rincon came in after that but didn’t fair much better. He walked in a run and then threw a wild pitch to allow a second run.

In total, the Twins pitchers had 3 wild pitches and a fair number more in the dirt. It was a rough night for Joe Mauer behind the plate.

I’m not going to get too worried about one bad game, but there are a couple things that stick out as concerns. 1) The bullpen struggles are becoming a trend. The Twins nearly lost games late in Seattle and against Tampa Bay and they let this game against the Royals get out of hand as well. 2) The Twins’ decision to bypass their young talent in favor of guys like Ponson has likely cost the Twins at least a game so far. They may have still lost today with Garza, for example, on the mound, but Ponson did nothing to put them in a position to win.

The Twins bats were working. scattered 7 runs across 5 innings. Joe Mauer had a 3 hit night, but struck out in his final two at bats. As a team they hit 4 doubles. Every Twin reached base with all, but Jason Tyner getting a hit.

Game Notes

• Luis Castillo will miss a couple days with his strained quad from Thursday’s game. Alexi Casilla got the start at second.
• Nick Punto returned from his ankle injury and had a nice night at the plate. He drove in 2 runs and scored twice with a single and a double. He also walked once.
• The Twins have now allowed 21 home runs on the year, which is the most in baseball. Incredibly, Alex Rodriguez, who hit 2 homers against Boston tonight has 3 more homers (12) than the entire Twins roster (9).
• Rondell White may need a couple more days to rest his sore right calf as it didn’t respond well to running before the game

Major trouble in the minors

The Twins 2004 second round draft pick, Anthony Swarzak, was suspended for 50 games for violation the minor league drug policy. He tested positive for a drug of abuse not peformance-enhancing substances. 50 games is a large chunk of the minor league schedule, so it’s a huge set-back for this top prospect. La Velle E. Neal III broke this story on his blog.