BOSTON — Win, and they would move into the second wild-card position, tied in the standings with both Kansas City and Detroit, both of whom they hold the tiebreaker over, with six games left in the regular season. Lose, and they would be on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, a game behind both teams, no longer in total control of their postseason fate. That’s the situation the Twins found themselves in on Sunday after getting blown out 8-1 in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader in Boston. But after getting rocked in the first game — Triston Casas hit two three-run home runs off starter Pablo López as part of a three homer day for him — things didn’t get any better. Rookie Zebby Matthews contributed another solid start but after the Twins’ bullpen turned in a gutsy effort on Friday in their best win of the season, it melted down on Sunday in a 9-3 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. “Really, ultimately, the only thing that matters here is that we didn’t come out of it with the wins that we wanted today,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s the disappointing part. … Those were tough games that we were out of about halfway through the game and early in the game.” The two-loss day leaves the Twins (81-75) without a hold on a playoff spot for the first time since the early months of the season, the result of a disastrous 2-5 road trip in which they lost three of four — two of those defeats were walk-off heartbreakers in Cleveland before getting blown out twice by Boston. On the trip, Minnesota did not score more than four runs in a game, as the offense sagged and the Twins were left looking for a big hit at the right time. “We don’t have our heads down,” first baseman Carlos Santana said. “I feel and I believe in my team (to) try to finish strong (and make the) playoffs.” But that task got harder on Sunday. The first game got away from the Twins early as Casas hit his first three-run blast off López in the first inning and added another in the third, giving the Red Sox (78-78) a six-run lead. “I put the team in a hole very quickly with a three-run lead and then even deeper with the other four runs that I allowed,” López said. “So, not the performance I wanted to give the team. Very frustrating, very disappointing, too, for the team, for the fans.” But the Twins still had a chance to salvage the day and, with Matthews pitching well and them jumping out to a two-run lead in the fifth inning, it looked as if they might. Matthews quickly got the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth before allowing a double to Ceddanne Rafaela that ended his night. He made way for Cole Irvin, who walked Jarren Duran before allowing a three-run home run to Romy Gonzalez that disappeared over the Green Monster in left-center field and put the Twins behind for good. “Gosh, we’re in that game,” Irvin said. “I just have to execute my pitches. The hardest thing about this is we had an opportunity to win the ballgame and Zebby did really well for us. … Bad time for probably my worst outing of the year.” A five-pitch top of the sixth followed in which Twins hitters went down particularly quickly and after that, Irvin, Cole Sands and Michael Tonkin combined to give up six runs in the bottom half of the inning, sinking the Twins to another loss on a pivotal day. If the Twins do miss out on a playoff spot, they’ll have Sunday to partially blame, a day in which they managed just four runs across 18 innings, did not collect an extra base hit and were outscored 17-4. “Our guys want it. They want what’s in front of them. They want the outcome of winning enough games to give ourselves a chance to go to the playoffs,” Baldelli said. “But really, what can we do about it? … We can adjust and adapt and go out there on Tuesday and win.” Related Articles Minnesota Twins | Pablo López roughed up in crucial start for Twins Minnesota Twins | Twins washed out in Boston, to play two games on Sunday Minnesota Twins | Twins win hard-fought 12-inning game against Red Sox Minnesota Twins | Twins trying to remain loose in final push for playoffs Minnesota Twins | Willi Castro painfully makes Twins history