MINNEAPOLIS -- One of the most impressive runs by an Astros starting pitcher in recent memory came to an end Saturday afternoon at Target Field when right-hander Hunter Brown's dominating stretch was thwarted by a hot-hitting Twins team.

Brown, who had thrown eight consecutive quality starts, giving up one run in 31 innings in his previous five starts, was tagged for seven runs and 12 hits in six innings as the Twins scored early and often and handed the Astros a 9-3 loss. It’s only the third loss for the Astros in the past 16 games.

“I’ve been punched in the mouth before and it happened today and it will happen again,” Brown said. “Flush it and get out to the next one. The guys in this clubhouse, we support each other and are playing good baseball right now, so just try to keep it rolling.”

All of the damage against Brown came in the first three innings as the Twins, who scored seven runs in the ninth inning of Friday’s loss to Houston, put 12 of their first 20 hitters on base, notching 10 hits. Brown was dinged by soft contact early, but Brooks Lee’s first career homer, a two-run shot, made it 7-1 in the third.

“I think they had a pretty good game plan,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “They were ready for some pitches. They got to some fastballs other teams haven’t been getting to, but the stuff was powerful. You’ve got to give those guys some credit. They put some good swings on them.”

Willi Castro began the first with a single, and Brown watched the Twins load the bases on soft hits by Carlos Correa (64.9 mph exit velocity) and Trevor Larnach (64.0 mph). Brown plunked Jose Miranda with a pitch and wound up limiting the damage to two runs. An infield hit by Ryan Jeffers (70 mph) got the Twins going in the second inning.

“Soft contact is kind of what you’re going for,” Brown said. “It wasn’t that frustrating. That’s the swings and contact I’m looking to get, and it so happened it didn’t go our way today.”

The average exit velocity against Brown was 85.5 mph, including 73.4 mph on the sinker he began throwing May 5, when his run of terrific pitching began. His 102nd pitch of the game was his fastest, a 99.1 mph fastball.

“I gave up a couple of balls for damage, but I thought they kind of battled and found some spots to get some hits that maybe we weren’t [positioned],” he said. “I feel halfway decent about the execution that I had in the first two innings. Maybe only a couple of pitches I feel I didn’t execute to the clip that I wanted to.”

With the Astros having used seven relief pitchers to patch together 27 outs in Friday’s 13-12 win, Espada stretched Brown for six innings and 105 pitches. He retired the final seven batters he faced, and has thrown at least six innings for nine consecutive starts.

“That was huge,” Espada said. “We needed that. He gave up some soft contact and that’s what happens when you have that power sinker, you know? You’re going to get in on the hands of hitters and some of that soft contact is going to produce some singles and stuff like that, but he settled in and the last three innings were pretty good.”

Brown’s resurgence -- he was 0-4 with a 9.78 ERA through his first six starts of the season -- has been a huge development for an Astros pitching staff that currently has six starters on the injured list, including Justin Verlander (neck). His 92 1/3 innings pitched so far this year are second on the team behind Ronel Blanco (96 innings), and he remains on pace to surpass his career-high regular-season total of 155 2/3 innings set last year.

“I’m just doing my job,” he said. “As a starter pitcher, you chew up some innings. I kind of put us in a hole early and tried to do my job.”