Some thoughts following a winless weekend Kansas City:
Streaking: If the Twins believe they are playoff-worthy, the must have something in store for opponents the rest of the way. According to baseball-reference.com, only three teams since 1901 - the 1974 Pirates, 1995 Reds and 2011 Rays - reached the playoffs after starting the season 0-6. If they can't win games like Sunday's, they are in trouble. I think their strikeouts are not going to regress much, but they showed on Sunday they can string together hits and score a few runs. To see the bullpen blow it like it did has to be unsettling. They went through this last year, so they know how to get out of it. The problem is that they had it happen two straight years.
Ricky Nolasco was sharp on Sunday. The righthander held Kansas City to one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Mike Moustakas' home run in the sixth was the only run off him. "Ricky was as good as I've seen him here," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. He's right. Nolasco's game score, which is tracked on mlb.com and baseball-reference.com, was 72 on Sunday. That's the third-highest score he has posted since signing with the Twins before the 2014 season. He used his slider effectively on Sunday and mixed in his curveball. His curve often is his best pitch, but the slider was a better weapon on Sunday. "Definitely, the slider and the fastball command was there," Nolasco said.
Sano ejected: Right fielder Miguel Sano was ejected from the game in the seventh inning for arguing with home plate umpire John Hirschbeck after taking a called strike three. Molitor tried to get out there in time but was a few seconds late. Replays suggested that the pitch was outside, and Sano might have boiled over because of borderline strikes that were called against him earlier in the game. While he had an RBI single in the game, he continues to look for his first home run.
Etc. The Royals swept the Twins in Kauffman Stadium for the first time since April 8-10, 2013. ... The Royals have won six straight against the Twins. ... The Twins have lost nine straight games, going back to last season (three losses to the Royals). ... Sunday was the first time the Twins had at least 10 hits in a game this season. ... Eduardo Nunez said his right forearm was fine after being hit by a Wade Davis pitch in the 10th.