The Minnesota Twins dropped their series opener to the Los Angeles Angels Thursday night 5-4 at Target Field.
David Freese led off the top of the ninth inning with a double off of Twins closer Glen Perkins. Pinch runner Tony Campana advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from John McDonald. He then came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Chris Iannetta.
The Twins had a chance to answer in the bottom of the ninth after back-to-back hits from Danny Santana and Brian Dozier to lead off the ninth. But Joe Mauer flew to shallow left field, Kennys Vargas struck out and Eduardo Escobar flew to left to end the game.
Huston Street escaped the ninth inning trouble to pick up his 12th save since being traded to the Angels. Reliever Joe Smith (6-2) picked up the win.
Perkins (3-2) took the loss for Minnesota.
Twins starter Kyle Gibson gave up four runs and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out one.
The Twins rallied back from a 4-0 deficit, thanks to a three-run home run from Eduardo Nunez. It was Nunez’s fourth home run of the season.
Brian Dozier, Danny Santana and Kurt Suzuki all had two hits, but the ninth inning told the story. The Twins again left 10 runners on base and were just 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Ricky Nolasco (5-10) returns to the mound for the Twins on Friday, he will face Matt Shoemaker (14-4) for Los Angeles.
