MINNEAPOLIS -- After a mostly disappointing first year with the Twins, the hope was that Ricky Nolasco would finish the 2014 season on a high note. After two strong outings before Monday's start, that appeared to be the trend.
But Nolasco was hit hard in the series opener against the Diamondbacks, allowing five runs on nine hits in just 4 2/3 innings as Arizona took the first game by a 6-2 final. The loss dropped Nolasco to 5-12 on the year with a 5.47 ERA.
It also meant the Twins have now lost 90 or more games for the fourth straight year, as they fell to 66-90 with six games remaining. This wasn't what Nolasco or Minnesota expected when the Twins inked him to a four-year, $49 million contract this past winter.
"It's been a terrible year," Nolasco said. "Just try to finish healthy. That's all I can do. There's nothing I can do to fix it from here on out."
In his two starts prior to Monday, Nolasco allowed one total run in 15 innings of work. That included eight scoreless innings last time out against Detroit, a game in which he struck out five and gave up just five hits.
Nolasco gave up five hits in the fifth inning alone Monday as the wheels fell off for the Twins right-hander. After cruising through four scoreless innings, Nolasco struggled to get outs in the fifth as the Diamondbacks batted around and scored five runs.
Jake Lamb and Chris Owings hit a pair of one-out singles against Nolasco, and shortstop Didi Gregorius hit one of his three doubles in the game to drive in Lamb to tie the game 1-1. Owings scored on a groundout, and Gregorius came home on a wild pitch by Nolasco as Arizona quickly took a 3-1 lead.
Nolasco's undoing was a two-run homer by Mark Trumbo, who connected on a slider for a 407-foot shot to right-center field. That put Nolasco in a 5-1 hole, but it didn't quite end his night. He lasted one more batter and walked Miguel Montero before giving way to reliever A.J. Achter.
The 4 2/3 innings was Nolasco's shortest outing since July 6, and it came after he went seven and eight innings in each of his last two starts.
"He just didn't make any pitches in that inning," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Nolasco in the fifth. "He was doing all right up until that point, but you have one bad inning like that, he couldn't finish off a hitter and they just kept flipping them and finally the big explosion, the big home run, and there you have it. . . . Not a good outing for him. A lot of pitches in five innings."
It took Nolasco 95 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. He tallied four strikeouts and walked one, but the fifth inning ultimately was his undoing.
Minnesota had high hopes for Nolasco coming into the 2014 season, which is why the Twins gave him the largest free agent contract in team history. But his first year in Minnesota got off to a slow start and never really picked up any momentum. He's had a few positive starts, including a complete game against Baltimore on May 2 and a few starts in which he didn't allow a run.
But the clunkers like Monday were too frequent for a pitcher expected to be a front-end veteran at the top of the Twins' rotation. As a whole, Minnesota's starting pitching has struggled once again this year as the Twins' offense continues to score runs.
"Our lineup has been working for a couple months here," Gardenhire said before Monday's game. "Our pitching's got to give us better chances. . . . When you're losing 90-plus games, you can't say, 'We're ready for next year.' There's work to be done here."
That includes Nolasco, who now has just one more start in 2014 before the offseason. He'll face the Detroit Tigers on Saturday in the Twins' second-to-last game of the year. One game won't change the feeling of a disappointing year, but Nolasco still has the chance to finish the season on a high note.
"It's been a terrible year," Nolasco reiterated. "I have high expectations of myself. There's nothing really I could have done. All I can do is just try to stay healthy and avoid major injury and rebound next year."
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