“The Twins just won’t go away. They could lose 10-0, but they just won’t quit,” said Casey Stern on Sirius/XM’s Inside Pitch show on Friday afternoon.

It was almost prophetic, as the Minnesota Twins went from winning in the most improbable way on Thursday afternoon to nearly repeating it against the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in a 7-6 loss at Target Field. The Twins scored two runs and had the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth against Royals closer Kelvin Herrera, but could not close the deal for a second walk-off win in a row.

“It was a good fight,” said manager Paul Molitor. “We hung in there until the last round and made it interesting. We were one little knock away. It’s good to see that.”

In fact, Herrera wasn’t even there for the finish. He left with lower forearm tightness, leaving Scott Alexander to get his second save of the season. Alexander walked Jorge Polanco -- after inheriting a 3-0 count against the switch hitter -- but got Eddie Rosario on a fastball to dance out of danger and get the Royals to within a game of .500 at 66-67.

The win moved the Royals to within 3.5 games of the second Wild Card spot -- currently occupied by the Twins -- though they still have five teams in front of them or tied with them in what’s bound to be a wild September finish. The Twins managed to hold on to their 1.5-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels, who fell to the Texas Rangers, 10-9.

Texas is now 67-67, and three games behind the Twins.

Dillon Gee got the ball for the Twins, but did not get out of the third inning as he allowed five earned runs on six hits with a pair of strikeouts and three walks. Former teammate Mike Moustakas dealt the crushing blow, drilling a three-run home run to give the Royals a 5-2 lead.

It’s not unreasonable to expect that Aaron Slegers -- who picked up his 15th win for Rochester on Friday night -- may get the call to start in this spot in the rotation next time around, as Molitor was noncommittal about whether Gee would make his next start.

The Royals scored five runs in the third to take the lead after Polanco gave the Twins a 2-0 lead on his 10th home run of the season against Royals starter Jason Hammel. Polanco came into the season with just four career home runs in 290 plate appearances, and has now reached double digits in 427 trips to the plate this season. Polanco also became the seventh Twin with at least 10 home runs this season.

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