The Twins have made the wrong kind of history this past week

The Minnesota Twins have been struggling over the past week, resulting in them being on the wrong side of history.

Bailey Ober and Zebby Matthews were roughed up in their recent starts and MLB.com's Do-Hyoung Park noted it was just the fifth and sixth times that a starting pitcher has allowed nine or more earned runs in less than two innings since the Twins moved to Minnesota from Washington in 1961.

Before this week, the feat had been "accomplished" four times as Joe Decker was the first to do it after allowing 10 runs in just over an inning during a 17-5 loss to the Kansas City Royals on May 12, 1976.

Willie Banks was the next to do it by allowing 10 runs in 1.2 innings to the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 4, 1992, and Brett Merriman allowed nine runs in 0.2 innings in a start against the Detroit Tigers on April 25, 1993.

Eric Milton was the last Twins starter to get shelled to a historical level, allowing nine earned runs in 1.2 innings in a loss to Cleveland on Sept. 13, 2002, but the Twins took things further this week.

Ober took the mound on Monday against the Atlanta Braves and allowed nine earned runs in two innings in a 10-6 loss. Matthews took the mound on Saturday and was blasted by the Toronto Blue Jays, allowing nine earned runs over two innings.

Related: Ober's streak of quality starts snapped in Braves 10-6 drubbing of Twins

Related: Twins battered in blowout loss to Blue Jays, 15-0

Pitchers will have a bad outing here and there but it's particularly alarming when they happen in the same week.

The Twins tried some damage control on Saturday by having Michael Tonkin throw 37 pitches while allowing two earned runs in the first inning and Scott Blewett throwing 54 pitches while allowing an earned run over three innings. After Caleb Thielbar pitched a scoreless seventh inning, infielder Kyle Farmer allowed three earned runs over the final two innings in a 15-0 loss.

This is not a positive development for a team that has lost nine of its past 12 games and sits 3.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the lead in the American League Central.

With Joe Ryan and Chris Paddack out for the regular season, the Twins starters will have to step up beginning with Sunday's series finale against the Blue Jays at 1:10 p.m.