MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox ace Davis Martin had been feeling it for weeks. He entered the game Tuesday against the Twins having allowed one run or fewer in seven of his last eight starts, going no less than 5⅔ innings in any of them.
But the only thing he felt Tuesday was ‘‘out of whack.’’
Martin (8-2) allowed season highs of six runs, 10 hits and three walks, and the Sox dropped their second consecutive game, losing 6-4. The series finale Wednesday will be their 13th game in a row without a day off. By the looks of it, they could use one.
‘‘You can talk about trying to get ahead of guys a little better,’’ Martin said, ‘‘but at the end of the day, it wasn’t my day.’’
Martin has been the Sox’ stopper. They entered 6-0 in games he had started after a loss. They even took a 3-0 lead in the third on Luisangel Acuna’s aggressiveness — after drawing a walk, he stole second and third and scored on a catcher Alex Jackson’s throwing error — and Miguel Vargas’ two-run single.
But Martin unraveled in the fourth, allowing four runs, five hits and a walk. He left with two outs in the fifth after allowing another run.
‘‘We’re not landing the curveballs early,’’ Martin said. ‘‘I need to be better about dropping in curveballs. Mixing pitches, mixing speeds — that’s what makes me good. Just didn’t have a feel for it. You’re gonna have some of these starts.’’
Martin didn’t get enough help from his defense, either. In the third, rookie first baseman Jacob Gonzalez broke to field a bunt that Martin was handling and couldn’t get back to the bag in time. And the Twins were aggressive on the bases, running on rookie left fielder Sam Antonacci to score while trail runners took an extra base.
‘‘Some tough plays there,’’ manager Will Venable said. ‘‘The one with Jacob, he wants to be aggressive. Just gotta have a feel for where Davis is at. . . . We’ve gotta do everything we can to not let trail runners advance, especially with how infrequently guys are thrown out. The plays that we’ll talk about, we’ll clean up.’’
Acuna stole another base in the eighth, becoming the first Sox player to steal three bags in a game since Juan Pierre on Sept. 30, 2010. He has 11 steals for the year.
Rare ‘two-out play’
The Sox made history Monday, turning a double play that wasn’t scored a double play.
With one out in the third and Brooks Lee on first, Kody Clemens grounded to first baseman Gonzalez, who threw to shortstop Colson Montgomery at second to retire Lee. But Montgomery’s throw back to first sailed over Gonzalez’s head.
Gonzalez recovered the ball and threw back to second to nab Clemens. Though the throw was a two-hopper, it was on target and in time to get him.
Gonzalez, a rookie being pressed into first-base duty with Munetaka Murakami (hamstring) on the injured list, drew praise from Venable.
‘‘I gave him some love on it, for sure,’’ Venable said. ‘‘It was a cool play. A lot of confidence to make both of those throws. Made really good throws, too. It was cool to see him execute it.’’
‘Winning Ugly’ reunion
It has been 43 years since the ‘‘Winning Ugly’’ Sox won the American League West with 99 victories. That isn’t a nice round number usually associated with anniversaries, but it won’t stop the club from celebrating the 1983 team with a reunion before the game June 27 against the Royals.
Players, coaches and staff from the team, which gave Sox fans their first taste of postseason baseball since the 1959 World Series squad, will be on hand, including fan favorites Harold Baines, Carlton Fisk, Ron Kittle, Rudy Law and Greg Luzinski.