BOSTON  — If there was ever a day that the Twins needed a long, strong start from Pablo López, it was Sunday, in the first game of a doubleheader while locked into a tight wild card race.

Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas had other plans, hitting two three-run home runs off of López, who gave up seven runs in his four-inning effort. The seven runs matched López’s season high.

“There’s no sugar-coating it,” López said. “Not the performance I was looking for especially with (what) this game means. Game 1 of a double header, didn’t provide length, didn’t provide quality. And we know what this game also meant with playoff implications. … (It was) not the performance I wanted to give the team.”

And not the type of performance the team is accustomed to seeing from López, who has pitched every bit like an ace in the second half of the season.

The seven runs matched the number of earned runs he had given up in his previous seven starts combined as López has been particularly dominant in the second half of the season.
López said the two home runs he gave up to Casas were “really good swings” on “not quality pitches.”

“The first one, nowhere near where we wanted. Not the height, not the length,” López said. “Second one, slightly better than the first one, given the count and the two pitches before it. He put his best swing.”

The starter will have one more start in the regular season and with the Twins locked in the thick of a wild-card race that’s tighter than ever, he said he needed to forget about his outing in Boston to move forward.

“I know I’m going to get another one that could be just as meaningful as this one, if not more,” López said. “I’ve got to turn the page myself.”

Injury updates

Max Kepler will take live batting practice on Monday at Target Field off of starting pitcher Chris Paddack, a step forward for each of them.

For Paddack, who is not expected to return in the regular season but could potentially return as a reliever if the Twins make the playoffs, it’s the first time he’s thrown live to a hitter as he builds his way back from a forearm strain that landed him on the injured list in July.

For Kepler, this will replace a rehab assignment — the Triple-A Saints’ season ended on Sunday. Kepler originally landed on the injured list with left patellar tendinitis and when he was building his way back up, he reported feeling hip soreness, for which he received a cortisone injection earlier this week. He’s then expected to workout with the team on Tuesday.

Reliever Justin Topa (elbow) threw a scoreless inning on Sunday, striking out two, in St. Paul on rehab and Kody Funderburk (oblique) has now made four rehab outings with the Saints.

With the Saints’ season coming to a close, the Twins plan to keep a group of players ready in case they’re needed in the final week of the season or during the playoffs should the Twins make it.

“We’ll have these guys in Minneapolis and then they’ll be be in Fort Myers working down there,” Baldelli said. “Hopefully we’ll have basically all of our bases covered and we’ll be ready to go if we need them. They’ll be ready.”

Briefly

After an off day on Monday, the Twins will send Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa to the mound this week against the Miami Marlins.

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