The Royals’ losing streak reached four games with their first blowout loss of the season, a 9-1 decision against the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis.

Kansas City actually held the lead briefly in this game, as Bob Oliver homered off Minnesota starter Dick Woodson with two outs in the second inning. But the advantage didn’t last long.

Royals starter Roger Nelson was solid for the first two innings, but the Twins started the third with singles from Ted Uhlaender and Rod Carew. Nelson then hit Tony Oliva with a pitch to load the bases. Harmon Killebrew unloaded them with a home run into the left-field seats, giving Minnesota a 4-1 lead.

The Twins kept adding on from there. A single and an error gave them one run in the fifth. Nelson surrendered four singles in the sixth inning, good for two more runs, before being lifted from the game in favor of reliever Dave Wickersham. Nelson finished with 12 hits allowed in 5 1/3 innings, six earned runs, four strikeouts, and two walks.

Minnesota’s last two runs came against reliever Steve Jones in an ugly inning that featured an error, two wild pitches, and two walks. That was more than enough offense for Woodson, who pitched a complete game, striking out five and scattering nine hits.

With the loss, the Royals fell to 8-10 on the season. They were in fourth place in the AL West, 3.5 games behind Minnesota.

Today’s birthdays: Bob McClure (1952), Danny Garcia (1954), Steve Crawford (1958), Wes Gardner (1961)