JOE MAUER was one of three Twins batters to hit a two-run home run agains the Angels Friday night (Flickr/Keith Allison).

Falling behind 7-0 after five innings, the Los Angeles Angels again found that you can’t count on a late rally to dig yourself out of a hole that huge. The Halos scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth but that wasn’t nearly enough as they lost 11-5 to the Minnesota Twins in Anaheim Friday night.

The Twin Cities team lit up Angel starter J.C. Ramirez (5-4) for eight hits and seven runs in 4.1 innings, and then reliever Deolis Guerra for six hits and four runs in 1.2 innings. In total, the Twins had three two-run home runs.

The Angels are now 28-30, but still in second place – barely – in the American League West race.

There were a few bright spots at bat. Kole Calhoun, Yunel Escobar and Eric Young Jr., each had two hits, and Danny Espinosa hit a two-run homer in the ninth to make the final score a bit more respectable. Overall the Angels were outhit 15-9.

Albert Pujols, in search of his 600th career home run, went 0-for-4, including two strikeouts.

“I think his first couple at-bats tonight, there’s no doubt, he was coming out of his swing a little bit,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “He was swinging hard. But his last couple, he settled in. He hit two bullets, just didn’t get them up. He’ll settle in and be fine.”

Matt Shoemaker (4-3) will get the start on Saturday against the Twins, dueling former Angel Ervin Santana (7-2).