There weren't many highlights for the Minnesota Twins on their recent road trip, which turned out to be a trip to forget.
The Twins' six-game West Coast swing culminated with a 5-2 loss Sunday to the Seattle Mariners, who took the three-game series from Minnesota after the Twins won the series opener Friday. With Sunday's loss, the Twins finished just 1-5 on the road trip. The only win was a 3-2 victory Friday over the Mariners.
There was a common theme during the Twins' trip out west: Not much starting pitching, and even less offense. That was again the case Sunday, as starter Nick Blackburn allowed five runs in six innings. But Minnesota's bats didn't pick Blackburn up. The only offense came from designated hitter Ryan Doumit, who hit a pair of solo home runs for Minnesota's two runs in the game.
Including Doumit's pair of homers, the Twins hit just four extra-base hits in the six-game road trip.
"Maybe that can trigger some of the other guys," Twins acting manager Scott Ullger said of Doumit's performance Sunday. "Hitting is contagious, and maybe we can catch what he's got."
After the forgettable road trip, the Twins will shake things up a bit when they return home Monday. That includes a few roster moves that will bring infielder Brian Dozier and pitcher Scott Diamond to Minnesota, while pitcher Liam Hendriks goes back to Triple-A Rochester and Justin Morneau will be placed on the disabled list with a sore left wrist.
It will be the first chance for Twins fans to see Dozier in a Minnesota uniform, as he'll be making his big league debut this week -- possibly as the starting shortstop. After a promising spring training, Dozier now has a chance to show what he can do at the major league level.
"He's athletic. He's got a strong arm," Ullger said before Sunday's game. "I think he's a bright enough kid to position himself correctly. He pays attention to the game. He knows who's pitching. All those intangibles go hand-in-hand with being a good shortstop. ... We'll see what we get when he gets here."
Adding to the intrigue of Minnesota's upcoming home stand is the opposing pitcher the Twins will be facing Monday. Angels right-hander Jered Weaver will take the hill at Target Field for the series opener, five days after no-hitting the Twins in Anaheim. Only one pitcher in baseball history has thrown back-to-back no-hitters -- Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer did so in 1938.
Minnesota now faces Weaver in Monday's series opener, hoping to avoid making history as Weaver looks to follow up on his no-hitter. The Twins will also face Angels right-handers Dan Haren and Ervin Santana this series.
"It's just another day. We've got to get after it like it's another day," Ullger said. "It doesn't matter. This is the big leagues. They're all good pitchers. We just ran into a couple guys that are really good. We've just got to get back on. We'll show up."
At least the Twins won't be on the hook for giving up Albert Pujols' first home run of the year. The Angels slugger, who signed a $240 million contract with Los Angeles this offseason, finally homered Sunday against Toronto to snap a drought of 139 at-bats without a home run.
But the Twins shouldn't be concerned about other teams' offenses. They have their own to worry about. Minnesota was shut out three times in six games on this recent road trip and scored just eight total runs. They were no-hit by Weaver on Wednesday and one-hit by Seattle's Felix Hernandez just two games later.
At 7-20, the Twins are in last place in all of baseball following their 1-5 road trip. With the Angels, Blue Jays and Indians coming to Target Field for a nine-game home stand, the Twins can only hope that a little home cooking might cure all that ails them.
Robby Incmikoski contributed to this report.
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