SEATTLE (AP) - After three straight days pounding the ball over the fence in Seattle, the Twins were kept in the ballpark on Sunday.
The Mariners rode six strong innings by Yusei Kikuchi to the 7-4 win, snapping the Twins' five-game winning streak.
The Twins had out-scored Seattle 36-11 in winning the first three games of the series at T-Mobile Park.
That included Saturday's 18-4 pounding in which the Twins hit six home runs.
Despite Sunday's loss, the Twins head into their series against the Angles with ten wins in 14 games, and a 4 1/2-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central.
“I think this was a good positive series for us as a whole,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You could look up and down our lineup. You could look at a bunch of our arms and say that this is quality work that we put in, and we’ll move on and head to Anaheim.”
Edwin Encarnacion made several nice plays at first base early in the game, then hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning helped the Mariners avoid a four-game sweep by the Twins.
"He's just a quality impactful hitter in the middle of the lineup for them and it's not surprising to see him to good things, driving the ball, and having good at-bats," Baldelli said.
The Twins have lost back-to-back games three times this season, and are the only team in baseball that has not had a three-game losing streak.
“We do a pretty good job of bouncing back, and we do a really good job of keeping one game separate from the next,” said Sunday's losing pitcher Kyle Gibson (4-2). “That's a lot of good veterans that have been around for a while and have done it in different locations and around really good teams.”
Mitch Haniger and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back homers as the Mariners ended a three-game skid, a day after an 18-4 drubbing.
Kikuchi (3-1) gave up one earned run in six innings, striking out six.
Jorge Polanco had four hits for the Twins.
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