Ervin Santana struggles again; Twins lose lead, game

Should the Twins turn their slump around and charge back into a playoff spot, Ervin Santana won't be eligible to take part. But lately, his pitching is making that scenario less likely.

Handed a four-run lead after two innings Thursday, the veteran righthander gave it all back by the fifth. Mitch Moreland drove in four runs with a home run and a double, and the Twins fell back to .500 with a deflating 6-5 loss to the Rangers.

"It was a winnable game," Twins manager Paul Molitor said with a shrug. "Kind of disappointing when you have a chance to complete a three-game sweep. We kind of let this one slip away."

The optimism that Santana supplied when he joined the team last month has slipped away, too. Banned for 80 games after failing a steroid test (a penalty that extends to the postseason, too), Santana charged into the 2015 season with three Cy Young quality starts once he was finally allowed to pitch again. With a 2.60 ERA and a 17-inning scoreless streak after his first four starts, Santana reminded fans of another hard-to-hit former ace, Johan Santana, and expectations, for the righthander and his new team, soared.

The Twins have lost a lot of altitude lately — and 13 of their last 18 games, after missing their chance to sweep Texas — and so has Santana.

In his last four starts, all Twins losses, Santana has posted an ERA of 9.90. He's surrendered five home runs in those games — Moreland's shot, a two-run blast into the upper deck in right field, came on a high fastball in the middle of the plate — and his strikeouts have all but ceased. Santana struck out one batter in six innings Thursday, giving him seven in his last four starts.

In Target Field, Santana's ERA actually fell to 9.77, and the Twins have lost all three of his starts here.

Molitor has another theory: Santana feels guilty about missing three months of the season and is trying to live up to his $55 million contract — largest the Twins have ever given a free agent — with every pitch.

"It's natural when you go through the circumstances he endured that you might try to do too much," Molitor said. "You know, you can't make up for lost time. Just continue to be yourself, don't try to be Superman. I think he's trying a little bit too hard out there, and sometimes it's getting away from him."

That early Twins lead — built on Trevor Plouffe's power, Chris Herrmann and Shane Robinson's gap doubles and some precocious baserunning by Eddie Rosario — got away from Santana fast. Perhaps the lead could have been bigger; Miguel Sano, one day after driving in six runs to tie a Twins rookie record, flew out with the bases loaded to end the second inning. And Robinson was thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning.

But four runs was more than enough for Santana last month. This time? Texas, rebounding from Wednesday night's 11-1 crushing, scored two on Moreland's homer, then strung together four hits, three of them with two outs including Moreland's two-run double, to regain the lead.

The Twins played well, with Rosario sliding around a tag at home plate to score after Eduardo Escobar was caught in a rundown. And the rookie later gunned down Texas leadoff hitter Delino DeShields at third base with a tremendous throw from right field.

None of that should have mattered, had August Santana resembled July Santana.

"It's mentally trying to grind out pitches," Molitor said of his errant starter. "You realize, like in the inning today where they scored three, it was [him] trying so hard to make a pitch. And you have to let it be more natural."