MINNEAPOLIS � The latest act of Royals starter Dillon Gee _ a middling performance in a 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night _ will do little to soothe the issues at the back end of the rotation.
The latest act of the offense _ just two runs against Minnesota starter Tyler Duffey _ was enough to renew any concerns over the anemia that has plagued this unit all season.
The combination of mediocre starting pitching and little offensive production doomed the Royals at Target Field. The story of his latest road loss was not complicated.
The Royals' offense sputtered against a starting pitcher (Duffey) that entered with a 5.93 ERA in 19 starts. The Twins pounced on Gee after he appeared to tire in the bottom of the sixth inning.
With the Royals' bullpen beginning to stir, Gee gave up back-to-back homers to center fielder Eddie Rosario and second baseman Brian Dozier, who notched his 25th homer of the season. Rosario punished a 1-0 fastball and drilled a two-run shot into the bullpen in left-center field. Dozier smashed a mistake fastball into the upper deck in left field. The blasts stretched the Twins' lead to 5-1 as Royals manager Ned Yost slowly emerged from the third-base dugout, yanking Gee after 5 1/3 innings.
The Twins would not score again. Yet it was already too late.
In total, Gee yielded five runs and 11 hits while striking out six. The majority of the runs came during a pivotal sixth. Gee fell to 2-6 as a starting pitcher as his ERA jumped to 4.78. The Royals (56-60) lost for the 60th time in 2016 as the Twins evened a three-game series at a game apiece. And here, of course, is where we can point this out: A year ago, the eventual World Series champions did not suffer their 60th loss until Sept. 16.
The Royals can still notch their third straight series victory with a win on Sunday. Kansas City's Edinson Volquez will face off against left-hander Hector Santiago, recently acquired by the Los Angeles Angels.
