The Minnesota Twins lost for the 21st time in their last 28 games on Saturday night in Los Angeles, as the Angels came away with a 10-6 win to get right-hander Jared Weaver his 16th victory of the 2011 season. Weaver was scheduled to start Friday night's series opener, but was pushed back as he was attending his grandfather's funeral in Oregon.
Things got off to a rough start for the Twins, as rookie Mark Trumbo hit his 25th home run for the Angels in the bottom of the first. . .a grand slam to get Los Angels off to an early 4-0 lead against Twins' starter Brian Duensing. Minnesota mounted a comeback in the top of the second, plating three thanks to a leadoff solo home run by Danny Valencia, and RBI singles by Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe to cut the deficit to 4-3. In the bottom of the second, Duensing was pulled from the game after straining an oblique muscle, having thrown only 37 pitches on the evening.
Duensing gave way to recently acquired Lester Oliveros, and he allowed single runs to the Angels in the second and third innings to put Los Angeles ahead 6-3, but the Twins tied it in the top of the fourth thanks to a bases-clearing double by Plouffe. That tied the game at six, and at that point the Minnesota offense pretty much shut it down for the evening. Minnesota would get just one hit over the final five innings of play.
Meanwhile, Vernon Wells hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the fifth off of reliever Phil Dumatrait to put the Angels back ahead 7-6. Three more runs in the bottom of the sixth for Los Angeles provided the final margin of victory.
The Twins are now 58-80 on the season, and are 18.5 games out in the American League Central division race. . .just one game ahead of Kansas City for the division basement.
Minnesota will attempt to salvage the series from the Angels on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, with first pitch scheduled for 2:35 PM Central time. Right-hander Kevin Slowey (0-3, 5.91 ERA) will go to the hill for the Twins, while the Angels will counter with left-hander Joel Piniero (5-6, 5.33 ERA).