MINNEAPOLIS -- Matt Shoemaker gave the Twins exactly what they should hope for from a back-of-the-rotation arm on a cold day at Target Field, but in what has become all too common of a refrain early this season, Minnesota’s offense didn’t have the punch to make that effort pay off in Sunday’s 6-2 loss at Target Field.

Amid this recent tough stretch, the Twins’ pitching has been on when the bats have been off, and vice versa -- a team unable to synchronize all phases of its game on a given day. Most of the time, that responsibility has fallen on the offense, which was held to six runs across the three-game series against Pittsburgh and could only muster a Byron Buxton RBI single and a Nelson Cruz solo homer in Sunday's finale.

The Twins (7-13) have now dropped 11 of their last 13 games since their 5-2 start to the season. They scored more than four runs in only two of those games -- and lost both.

“No one has to carry this burden alone,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s not how this is ever going to work. I think the guys all have to understand we’re not going to get it all back on one swing or one at-bat.”

It took a nearly perfect pitching performance from J.A. Happ in the series opener for the Twins to grab a win. Beyond the first inning on Sunday, Minnesota got that kind of effort from Shoemaker. The right-hander allowed two runs within the first four batters of the game, but he allowed only three singles beyond that over the course of a 5 1/3-inning outing in which he struck out two and walked one.

But even against a Pirates pitching staff that entered Sunday with the fifth-worst ERA in the National League, the lineup couldn’t back Shoemaker up.

“That's sometimes part of the game,” Shoemaker said. “This game can be cyclical. We're keeping our feet on the gas pedal. ... Things are going to turn. We're all going to start playing better.”

Minnesota had an immediate answer in the bottom of the first thanks to singles by Luis Arraez, Josh Donaldson and Buxton, but Alex Kirilloff’s scalded line drive right back up the middle at 104 mph was snared by Pittsburgh starter Wil Crowe for an inning-ending double play -- and that’s exemplary of how the Twins’ offensive fortunes have fallen this season.

In fact, the Twins entered the game with the best hard-hit rate in the Majors, at 43.3 percent. They also boasted the third-highest average exit velocity at 89.9 mph. Considering how hard they’re hitting the ball -- and how often they’re doing so -- one could argue their results should be better.

Statcast backs that up. According to the Twins’ quality of contact, their expected batting average entered Sunday at .264, fifth best in the league, but their actual batting average was 21 points behind, at .243. The same story goes for their slugging percentage, which is predicted to be .462 but also lags considerably in reality, at .395.

“We’ve made their starter work a little bit early on,” Baldelli said. “We’ve had some guys on, made them throw a bunch of pitches. And when you’re not able to get the runs home that are out there ... we’ve got to bring them home. We will do that.”

The numbers in aggregate aren’t emblematic of a glaring issue in situational hitting, either. In fact, the Twins have a .717 team OPS with runners in scoring position this season, with production right around league average in such scenarios.

But it’s been tough to see that outside of a few explosions, as the team has been held to six or fewer hits in eight of its last 13 games. Minnesota is still seeking that consistency.

Baldelli does have some ideas as to how this might turn around. The Twins’ schedule has featured 15 day games among their first 20 of the season, limiting the club’s ability to conduct on-field activities, drills and warmups before games. All of the COVID-19 testing and contact tracing has further disrupted their routines -- as have the postponements and doubleheaders.

• Notes: Simmons back soon; manager pranks

Getting Andrelton Simmons, Max Kepler and Miguel Sanó back could help -- but regardless, at a certain point, the Twins are confident that all these hard-hit balls will start to fall in.

“Our record is what it is,” Baldelli said. “It’s not what we’re looking for, but we have so much time to turn this thing around, and it can start tomorrow.”