MINNEAPOLIS _ Kyle Gibson's a nice guy, maybe too nice. He's always such a gracious host when the Indians are in town.
The right-hander has faced Cleveland at Target Field once in each of his five seasons with the Twins, and he's uniformly generous. Which is a nice way of saying the Twins are 0-5 in those games.
On Monday, Gibson put a runner on base in each of the six innings he pitched, surrendered a team-leading fourth home run, and left the Twins resigned to their fifth loss in seven games, 3-1 to the defending American League champions.
Gibson actually reduced his ERA by more than a run, from 8.00 to 6.91, but it was hardly an encouraging start, since he worked his way into various degrees of trouble in each inning. A three-hit third inning by the Indians, highlighted by Francisco Lindor's double and an RBI single by Edwin Encarnacion, gave Cleveland a lead the Twins could never overcome.
Two innings later, Michael Brantley clubbed a 1-0 fastball from Gibson into the seats in right-center, a towering home run. It was the fourth homer that Gibson has allowed in 14 1-3 innings this season. In his previous four seasons, the right-hander has given up only four home runs in 13 April starts.
Danny Salazar and Cleveland's strong bullpen didn't need any more support. Salazar, second in the AL in strikeouts, was shaky at first, surrendering five hits and a walk in the first two innings. But the Twins converted that offensive outburst to just one run, first by stranding three runners in the first inning on a Jason Castro groundout. An inning later, Eddie Rosario singled home Jorge Polanco with no outs, but Rosario and Eduardo Escobar (on third) couldn't move up as the top of the Twins' lineup went strikeout-popup-strikeout.
Indians manager Terry Francona says Derek Falvey never considered any task beneath him, and they built a strong relationship from the start.
Salazar finished with seven whiffs in the game, striking out the side in his final inning, the sixth.
The failure to provide run support has been a recurring problem over the pat week. Monday's loss marked the fourth time in seven games they managed only one run.
Gibson allowed eight hits, two walks and a hit batter while retiring 16 batters on the night, striking out only two. He departed with two runners on base in the sixth, but Taylor Rogers snuffed that threat by inducing Lindor into hitting into an inning-ending double play.
The loss dropped the Twins to 7-6 on the season, and pulled the two teams into a tie _ exactly 156 wins apiece _ since 2000.
Attendance was announced at 16,961, the third time in seven home games that fewer than 17,000 fans showed up to Target Field. That had happened at only one other game in the stadium's history before this April.
