TORONTO -- Trent Thornton’s first six weeks in the Major Leagues has been one long rollercoaster ride. One start he’s soaring, the next he’s crashing back down.

Thornton’s inconsistency continued on Wednesday night as he was chased after two-plus innings in a 9-1 loss to the Twins. Five days after limiting the Rangers to one hit over seven scoreless, Thornton could not seem to locate many of his pitches, and when he was in the zone, Minnesota made a lot of hard contact.

The Blue Jays’ offense wasn’t much better as it failed to register a hit until Billy McKinney slugged a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Toronto scored just one run over its previous three games, which matched a franchise record for the fewest amount scored during a three-game series. Toronto also scored one run from Sept. 7-9, 1981, vs. Minnesota.

“Not really,” a visibly frustrated Charlie Montoyo said after the game when asked if there were any positives that could be taken from the series. “I’m usually very positive, but we didn’t play good the last three days. So I’m not going to sit here and make excuses, for this and that, because we didn’t play good baseball. My kids know it, I know it, so I’m not going to insult your intelligence by saying we did this and we did that. We did not play good baseball the last three days.”

Thornton has been all over the place so far this season. When Thornton has been good, he has been really good. When he has been bad, he has been really bad. There has been no middle ground for the 25-year-old, but the Blue Jays remain committed to riding the waves with their rookie starter. And with Ryan Borucki out until at least June, there is no risk of Thornton losing his job any time soon.

• Box score: Twins 9, Blue Jays 1

The native of Pennsylvania entered this start vs. Minnesota on a high. He was coming off the best start of his career, with the lone hit vs. Texas coming on a bloop single to left-center field. Thornton was aggressive in that game and consistently pounded the strike zone with his fastball. When Thornton struggles, he tends to nibble around the corners, which leads to far too many hitter’s counts and a lot of hard contact. Those issues returned against the Twins.

Thornton loaded the bases in the first, but managed to escape with just a sacrifice fly. In the second, Thornton’s problems went from bad to worse as Jorge Polanco hit a two-run shot. The wheels really fell off in the third on a two-run homer off the bat of C.J. Cron. By the time the inning was over, Jonathan Schoop added a two-run shot and Thornton was charged with five runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. It was the shortest outing of Thornton’s career and the five earned runs matched a career high.

“It’s been frustrating because I’ll have a good start, then a bad start, then a good start,” Thornton said. “The consistency hasn’t been there. That’s what I want every game, to get deep into the game and give the team a chance to win. Tonight, I definitely didn’t do that, which is frustrating. I’m still confident in myself and my ability and just waiting to get out there again.”

The Blue Jays were held hitless through four innings for the 10th time this season. Minnesota right-hander Kyle Gibson allowed just two hits with a walk while striking out 11 over six scoreless innings. McKinney’s solo home run snapped Toronto’s scoreless innings streak at 24 innings, dating back to Sunday afternoon’s 10-2 lopsided loss to the Rangers. That at least helped the Blue Jays avoid being shutout in three consecutive games for just the third time in franchise history.

This marked the third time this season the Blue Jays were swept in a series which lasted at least three games. Toronto has lost eight of its last nine games, after previously going through a 7-2 stretch, and the Blue Jays scored three runs or fewer in each of those losses. The Blue Jays also have now lost five games in a row, which is a new season high.

“Obviously right now, we’re grinding, we’re battling,” McKinney said. “Hopefully we get out of this rut here soon. The talent is there obviously. It just hasn’t been clicking yet. I’m looking forward to the future here, but we have to get it together here soon and start hitting the ball better.”