Twins Still Winless After 7-0 Loss To Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The winless Minnesota Twins lost more than just another game Saturday night. They also lost an outfielder to an injury.
Twins center fielder Danny Santana suffered a right hamstring injury in the 7-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals and was placed on the disabled list after the game.
"We are optimistic he didn't rupture it, but obviously it was a fairly significant tug on that hamstring," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He was in a lot of pain, so that's not a good sign. So, we're going to have to take some time to get that thing right."
The Twins' loss dropped them to 0-5 for the first time since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961.
Santana injured his leg while chasing Salvador Perez's double in the sixth inning.
"I felt the pain right before the step to the ball," Santana said. "I'm really sore right now. I don't know how bad it is."
Ian Kennedy pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, while Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Kendrys Morales homered for the Royals. Moustakas and Cain hit successive home runs in the fourth for the first hits off Twins left-hander Tommy Milone.
"Everything went wrong that could," Molitor said. "A decent start from Tommy and then the back-to-back homers. We were having trouble getting anything going offensively again. Then we made some mistakes in the field the next inning that kind of opened up the flood gates a little bit.
"It's disappointing to not play a little more competitive game. You just got to figure out a way to come back the next day and stay positive about turning things around."
The last time the Royals hit back-to-back home runs was Sept. 29 at the Chicago White Sox.
"Even those two home runs I felt were two pretty well-placed pitches," Milone said. "Just good hitters. They were either waiting for it or good adjustments. I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes and not give them any free passes. From the get go I felt good. I was just kind of rolling."
Milone (0-1) allowed four runs — two earned — and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Twins shortstop Eduardo Escobar committed two errors — one fielding and one throwing — leading to the two unearned runs in the fifth.
Paulo Orlando, who was making his first start of the season, had three hits, including an RBI single in the three-run sixth and scored on Alcides Escobar's two-out triple.
Chien-Ming Wang, who won 38 games for the Yankees in 2006-07, pitched a scoreless ninth, his first big league appearance since Aug. 24, 2013, while with Toronto.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Twins: Santana was placed on the disabled list left with a strained right hamstring.
Royals: OF Jarrod Dyson (right oblique strain) went 1 for 2 with a RBI, walk and scored two runs Saturday for Triple-A Omaha in his first rehab game.
BUXTON, SANO OUT
CF Bryan Buxton, who was ranked the Twins top prospect entering the season, and LF Miguel Sano, who hit .280 with 18 HRs in 80 games as a rookie, were not in the lineup. Buxton has struck out 10 times in 15 at-bats, while Sano is 2 for 15 with no extra-base hits and striking out eight times. "Some of the guys who have not gotten off to good starts we are giving a little bit of a blow," Molitor said. "You are just looking for some people to step up and kind of get this ship rolling in a more positive direction." Buxton replaced the injured Santana in the sixth and struck out in the eighth, while Sano flied out as a pinch hitter with two runners on in the seventh and struck out to end the game.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Ricky Nolasco, who was limited to 37 1/3 innings last year because of ankle and elbow injuries, will make his first start.
Royals: RHP Edinson Volquez, who threw six scoreless innings to beat the Mets in the season opener, will start the series finale.
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