When the Twins lost injured starters Chris Paddack and Joe Ryan after the all-star break, there was concern about how the team would fare with three rookie starters in the rotation.

The early answer is not so good.

David Festa, the Twins’ top-rated pitching prospect, and Zebby Matthews have shown why they could be rotation regulars in the near future, but their inexperience is showing as Minnesota tries to hunt down a second straight American League Central title.

In his 10th major league start Monday, Festa allowed four earned runs in four innings on four hits — including Brandon Drury’s two-run homer — and three walks in the Twins’ 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in front of 14,450 at Target Field.

The Twins have lost 6 of 7 and fell six games behind first–place Cleveland in the Central. They also lost a half-game in the wild card race and now lead idle Detroit and Seattle by three games.

Since Festa (2-6) and Matthews (1-3) joined the rotation, the rookies are a combined 3-9 with a 5.78 earned-run average.

On the other end, a lineup missing key pieces Carlos Correa (foot), Byron Buxton (hip) and Max Kepler (knee) has run aground. The Twins are 4-11 since Aug. 25, and have been outscored in those losses 69-24. In their past seven games, they’re averaging 10.1 strikeouts and 1.85 runs.

Angels left-hander Reid Detmers (4-6) held the Twins to two runs on five hits, one of them Kyle Farmer’s solo home run in the third inning. He waled two and struck out eight.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead before the Twins recorded an out. Leadoff hitter Taylor Ward drew a walk and moved to third on Zach Nito’s double to right field. No. 3 hitter Nolan Schanuel then brought both runners home with a single to left.

Los Angeles doubled the lead in the third inning when Schanuel drew a two-out walk and came home on Drury’s home run into the second deck in left field to make it 4-0. It was the fourth homer of the season for Drury, who entered the game hitting .167.

The Twins got one back in their half of the third when Michael Hellman, who entered the game in the second inning as a replacement for Willi Castro (illness), led off with a sharp double into the right field corner and came home to score on a two-out single by Carlos Santana that made it 4-1.

Festa lasted only four innings, charged with four earned runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out four and saw his earned-run average rise to 5.08 in 10 starts.

Kyle Farmer cut the lead in half with a solo home run to left in the fourth inning, but Niko Kavadas hit a two-out, two-run home run off Ronny Henriquez to make it 6-2 in the sixth.