Twins rally, then regress in loss at Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, MO. – It's early. But the plan isn't working.

Scoring runs wasn't supposed to be a problem for the Twins this season, but it has been. And their bullpen, which they believed could shut teams down late in games, has faltered.

Both the bats and the bullpen cost them again Friday night in a 4-3 loss to Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium in which the Twins had the World Series champion Royals on the ropes in the eighth inning but let them off the hook.

It wasted a battling effort by righthander Ervin Santana, who held his former team to two runs over six innings in his second start of the young season.

It spoiled a night in which Byung Ho Park hit his first major league home run, a blast estimated at 417 feet. Park mashed a hanging breaking pitch from Joakim Soria through a stiff wind and into the left-center field stands to give the Twins a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning.

But after Park's blast, things went haywire for the Twins.

Righthander Kevin Jepsen entered the game and promptly gave up a single to Alex Gordon. Salvador Perez followed with a line drive to left field that Eddie Rosario dived for — but he missed the ball and watched it roll to the wall. Gordon scored the tying run while Perez, a catcher not known for his speed, legged out a triple.

Perez then came around to score what proved to be the winning run on Omar Infante's sacrifice fly. It was the second faulty outing of the week for Jepsen, who saved the bullpen last season when Glen Perkins was injured, leaving the team in need of a fill-in closer.

"It would have been unbelievable if [Rosario] had caught it," Jepsen said, "but it's one of those things where everything is falling in right now."

Rosario had just entered the game as a defensive replacement for Miguel Sano, taking over in left field while Danny Santana moved from left to right. Sano walked and struck out three times in four plate appearances, but his turn in the batting order came back up in ninth inning against Kansas City closer Wade Davis with the tying run on second. Rosario struck out to end the game.

"We went ahead and made the defensive switch there, which is always a little risky," Molitor said. "Taking Miguel out of the game … but with a lead and six outs to go in a big outfield, I thought it was the right thing to do."

The Twins ended up with one more chance in the when Brian Dozier ended a 10-pitch plate appearance with a walk — the Twins' eighth walk of the game — and then stole second. Molitor gave Danny Santana the option of bunting Dozier to third or hitting a ball to the right side of the infield, whichever way Santana wanted. Santana tried to bunt a high 3-1 pitch from Davis and fouled it off, then struck out swinging.

Both times the Twins took a lead Friday, Kansas City responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. The Twins went up 1-0 when Kurt Suzuki's double off Yordano Ventura scored Eduardo Escobar in the second inning, but against Ervin Santana, the Royals got a two-out single from Perez, a double from Infante and a two-run single from No. 9 hitter Reymond Fuentes for a 2-1 lead.

The Twins made it 2-2 in the sixth on Escobar's RBI single to center. When Park connected off Soria, the Twins appeared to be on their way to their first victory of the season.

Then the bottom of the eighth came.

"The losing streak means more to me," Park said. "We need to get our first one."