Twins lose 7-2; get swept by Royals

The Twins ended their 6-game homestand with a thud, losing 7-2 to Kansas City on Wednesday at Target Field. The victory gave the Royals a sweep of the three-game set and a 2-game lead over the Twins in the AL Central. Minnesota, who had baseball’s best record in May, went 1-and-5 on the homestand. They travel to Texas this weekend to take on the Rangers.

TWINS NOTES:

· THE TWINS were swept by the Royals for the first time since August 27-29, 2013…the Twins are now 3-6 against the Royals this season, going 2-4 at Target Field…the Twins are now 3-7 in June, their worst start to a June since going 3-7 in 2008…the Twins turned a double play tonight for the sixth straight game (nine total in that span), the longest for them this season and longest since turning a DP in seven straight from August 13-20, 2014…the Twins tied their season-high committing three errors in tonight’s game.

· KYLE GIBSON allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits and two walks while striking out six in 6.0 innings…it was his second straight start to allow five runs…he has allowed six home runs in his last four starts, since May 24 at CWS…Gibson tossed a career-high 117 pitches tonight, his previous high being 110 on June 13, 2104 at DET…the Twins turned one double play behind Gibson tonight, and he now has induced 15 ground ball double plays, coming into today he led the majors in opponent GIDP (14).

· TREVOR PLOUFFE (2-for-4) hit his ninth home run of the season with a solo shot in the eighth inning…six of his nine homers this season are off right-handed hitters and eight of the nine have come at Target Field…Plouffe collected his first multi-hit game since May 31.

· KENNYS VARGAS (2-for-4) collected his 10th multi-hit game of the season tonight…he has four multi-hit games in his last nine games…in 85 career games, he has collected multiple hits 58 times.

· JORGE POLANCO (1-for-3) made his 2015 debut starting at shortstop tonight…he singled in his first at-bat…Polanco has a hit in each of his three career starts, batting .420 (3-for-7) with a double and an RBI in those three.

· EJECTIONS: Paul Molitor and Torii Hunter were ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the eighth inning…it was Molitor’s first career ejection as a manager…it was Hunter’s ninth career ejection and his sixth as a member of the Twins.