Ricky Nolasco's effort isn't rewarded with Twins victory

KANSAS CITY, MO. – What will be overlooked among the mounting losses was one of Ricky Nolasco's best outings in his three seasons with the Twins.

The righthander held Kansas City to one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts in the Twins' 4-3, 10-inning loss Sunday. Mike Moustakas' home run in the sixth was the only run off Nolasco.

"Ricky was as good as I've seen him here," Twins manager Paul Molitor said.

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 for $49 million over four seasons before the 2014 season.

He used his slider effectively and mixed in his curveball. His curve often is his best pitch, but the slider was a better weapon Sunday. "Definitely, the slider and the fastball command was there," Nolasco said.

Nolasco's highest game score with the Twins is 76, which he put up twice in 2014. One of those was seven shutout innings at Kansas City on Aug. 26.

The Twins lost that game too, by the way, by a score of 2-1.

"I feel like I got a little bit excited the other day in Baltimore and got a little bit out of my mechanics," Gibson said. "When you have 40,000 cheering for you are going to have to reel it in a little bit and make sure your emotions and adrenaline are in check."

Gibson will be making his first start in an opener of any kind. He has the task of trying to change the Twins' recent fortunes in such games. They are 30-25 all-time in home openers but are 2-4 at Target Field.

At 0-6, the Twins obviously could use a strong outing by Gibson. Facing the White Sox, he is 4-0 with a 2.13 ERA in six career starts, which helps. The Twins just need him to control his emotions and pitch to his capabilities.

"I'm excited about it," Gibson said. "It's going to be a lot of fun to be back in front of the home crowd. I'm sure they are going to be as excited."

Right fielder Miguel Sano was ejected in the seventh inning Sunday for arguing with plate umpire John Hirschbeck after taking strike three.

It was Sano's first career ejection. Max Kepler replaced him, which he likely would have ended up doing anyway with the Twins trying to protect a late-inning lead.

Danny Santana went back to the hotel Saturday night with his right hamstring "very sore," suggesting he could be out a while. But the Twins think that Santana might be ready to play right when his time on the 15-day disabled list ends April 25.

"I don't think it's very serious," General Manager Terry Ryan said. "I think it's 15 days and it should be OK. I didn't get the impression that it is going to be a long-term situation, but it is certainly a DL situation."

Santana strained his hamstring while chasing after a fly ball during Saturday's game.

Eduardo Nunez said his right forearm was fine after being hit with a Wade Davis pitch in the 10th inning.