Twins lose again, but don't lose ground

Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

Joe Mauer slid home to score after a triple by Justin Morneau in the hird inning Sunday at the Metrodome.

The bullpen failed to get a key out, and timely hits were absent.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: September 8, 2008 - 8:24 AM

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire did a mental security check of the clubhouse moments after his club lost 7-5 the Tigers at the Metrodome.

“Just walking through,’’ he said, “making sure everybody is OK. Go take a break here.’’

The Twins came off a 5-9 road trip looking to get a boost from playing at home again. Instead, they lost leads on Saturday and Sunday while losing two of three games to the Tigers. The Twins had won 11 consecutive home series before this weekend. They last dropped a home series June 3-5 to Baltimore.

Moreover, the Twins are 4-11 in their past 15 games and have failed to win their past five series. They were fortunate on Sunday that the White Sox lost too, so the Twins remain 2½ games behind Chicago in the race for the AL Central crown.

Coming home after a long road trip has done little to help their level of play. The Twins committed two more errors on Sunday and now have 98, tied for the third most in the AL. While the bullpen has struggled, lefthander Glen Perkins failed to hold a lead for the second consecutive outing. And Tigers closer Fernando Rodney ended games on Saturday and Sunday by retiring Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau with runners on base.

Before Sunday’s game began, Gardenhire leaned back in his chair and went over all the mistakes his team has made lately. But he reminded all listeners that it’s better to have these problems than not being in the race at all.

“Even though I don’t get to sleep at night,’’ Gardenhire said, “I’m still having fun.’’

Players changed and left a mostly silent clubhouse afterward, happy to have some time to decompress. Owner Carl Pohlad hosted a team dinner Sunday evening. Many people with the club were scheduled to play Monday in Twins radio announcer John Gordon’s charity golf tournament. Others just wanted to kick back and relax.

“We are all looking forward to tomorrow,’’ said Perkins, who gave up three earned runs over 5 2/3 innings on Sunday.

The Twins led 4-2 heading into the sixth on Sunday but Perkins gave up a first-pitch homer to Miguel Cabrera. Three hits, a run and a walk later, Perkins was out of the game. Curtis Granderson’s RBI single off of Craig Breslow gave Detroit the lead for good at 5-4, ruining a day during which the Twins passed the 2 million mark in attendance.

Morneau was 1-for-3 with four RBI on Sunday. His sacrifice fly in the seventh got the Twins within 7-5. Alexi Casilla hit a one-out single in the ninth to excite the announced crowd of 31,236, but Rodney got both Mauer and Morneau to fly out to left to end the game.

Detroit righthander Chris Lambert (1-1) won his first major league game as Cabrera, Magglio Ordonez and rookie catcher Dusty Ryan all homered.

And the Twins left the Dome trying to figure out how to scale the wall they’ve just hit.

“We know we’re still in good shape,’’ Twins closer Joe Nathan said. “We have to come out and really set the tone this next series and try to make a statement. We’re still in this thing. We’re not fading away.’’