Kansas City, Mo. – On Wednesday, it was Sean Poppen. On Thursday, it was Kohl Stewart.
Who will hop on the shuttle from Rochester next to eat innings for the big league club? The Twins might need a pitcher from their Class AAA affiliate for a third consecutive day after Jake Odorizzi's second-shortest outing of the season in a 4-1 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
While the Twins have avoided losing three consecutive games all season, an impressive achievement, they have now lost four of their past five. And there are several reasons why. The Twins mustered only five hits Thursday, and they committed three more errors. While none of them resulted in any runs, the errors led to more pitches thrown. This rash of errors comes after the Twins committed 11 errors over their just completed nine-game homestand.
And Odorizzi was knocked out after four innings, one day after Kyle Gibson lasted just 4 ⅓ innings against Boston. Those two haven't combined for clunkers often this season.
"Obviously, the last few games haven't really gone the way we wanted them to go," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
Odorizzi (10-3) sailed into Thursday having won his past 10 decisions, during which he posted a sparkling 1.52 ERA. It didn't take long for him to realize things were going to be different this time after Jorge Polanco's home run in the first gave the Twins an early lead.
"They were hitting the ball back up the middle," Odorizzi said. "They weren't trying to do too much with it, and in games that it's not at guys, it is going to be tough and drive a pitch count up. I thought it was a simple approach, and they got on top of fastballs and did what they needed to do."
Of his 80 pitches, Odorizzi got swinging strikes only five times. The Royals hit five balls off Odorizzi with an exit velocity of at least 100 miles per hour — four during their three-run first inning. The key blow was two-run double by Alex Gordon on a 3-2 fastball over the heart of the plate. Lucas Duda added an RBI single.
Martin Maldonado's RBI double to left-center in the fourth pushed the Royals lead to 4-1. Odorizzi was pulled after that. His ERA rose from a American League-leading 2.24 to 2.58.
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"He's been so good for us and throwing the ball well for so long, that you know at some point there's going to be a start or two like this along the way," Baldelli said. "Tonight was that night.
"They had good at-bats. There wasn't a ton of swing-and-miss on their end. They made him battle and work a lot to get through those innings."
Notice there's been nothing about the Twins offense mentioned here. That's because Royals righthander Glenn Sparkman, making just his ninth career start, rolled into the seventh inning limiting the Twins to five hits, including the Polanco home run.
It was just the eighth time this season the Twins were unable to score more than one run.
And it comes after the Twins tagged Sparkman for four earned runs Saturday at Target Field.
Stewart threw four scoreless innings, allowing the bullpen to recharge. But the Twins officially are in a slump and Odorizzi's streak is over.
"They had a good game, and I can't fault myself for this because they had a good approach and had success today," Odorizzi said. "They beat me today, and we will see each other again and go for different results."
