Twins continue free fall with 6-2 loss to Angels

It doesn’t seem to matter what buttons Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli presses anymore.

A day after the Kansas City Royals finished sweeping the Twins and Baldelli called Minnesota’s play “unprofessional,” his team continued its free fall with a 6-2 loss to the lowly Los Angeles Angels, the second-worst team in the American League.

With the loss, the Twins have now lost six of their last seven games and 15 of 21 since failing to finish a sweep of the Texas Rangers on Aug. 18. In that three-week span, only the Chicago White Sox, who are on pace for the worst MLB season by a team since at least 1900, have a worse record than the Twins.

The Royals also lost, so the Twins remain 2.5 games behind them for the second AL wild card spot but they’re now six back of Cleveland in the division. Additionally, the Red Sox won, moving just three back of the Twins for the final AL wild card spot with Detroit and Seattle just a half-game further back.

Monday’s game went sideways right from the start.

Rookie David Festa walked the first batter of the game, then gave up back-to-back hits to make it 2-0 Angels three batters into the game. The Angels tacked on two more in the third on a two-run homer.

Veterans Carlos Santana and Kyle Farmer tried to spark the Twins, with the former hitting a two-out RBI double to get Minnesota on the board in the third and Farmer homering in the fourth. However, the Angels quickly pushed their lead back to four with a two-run homer off Ronny Henriquez in the sixth.

The Twins managed five total hits while striking out eight times Monday night against the team with the fifth-highest ERA in the majors this season.

The teams will do it again on Tuesday with Pablo López (14-8, 4.05 ERA) set to face Angels righty Griffin Canning (5-12, 5.02 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m.