MINNEAPOLIS -- According to several players, the message delivered by Rocco Baldelli to his clubhouse in Sunday’s fiery tirade was a welcome one that they felt was important to address the clear lack of energy and momentum in the team’s on-field results.

“You don't want to play scared by trying to not lose,” Matt Wallner said. “You want to go out and try to win.”

Problem is, it’s rather tough for the Twins to play with that mindset if they’re down multiple runs before they even step to the plate.

Whatever Baldelli asked of his team behind closed doors, the Twins still didn’t seem to have found it on Monday, when they fell in an early four-run hole and never caught up to the Angels -- owners of the second-worst record in the American League -- in a 6-2 loss at Target Field, their fourth consecutive defeat and their 15th loss in their past 21 games.

In the aftermath of that explosive rant by the skipper, players spoke of urgency and the need to win now to regain control of their spiraling season -- and this looked to be a good opportunity to do that, facing a youngster-laden Angels squad that ranked ahead of only the White Sox in the AL standings.

Instead, another quiet performance from the offense dropped the Twins’ lead in the AL Wild Card race to only three games ahead of the trailing Red Sox, Mariners and Tigers -- and what once appeared to be a tug-of-war between the Twins and Royals for seeding in the final two Wild Card slots now looks more like the Twins holding on for dear life.

“It feels like we're piecemealing it a little bit,” Baldelli said. “We've got to do more as a collective group and get the three, four, five good at-bats in a row. The best way to do that is to have a really narrow and good idea of what you're trying to do at the plate and follow it through. It takes discipline to do that.”

Discipline is something that the offense decidedly didn’t have as the Twins didn’t muster a hit after a leadoff single in the sixth inning, going down in a hail of either too-big, too-wild or halfhearted check-swings.

It’s perhaps indicative of the Twins’ pressing to try to swing out of this slump that they didn’t look locked into taking their best swings on pitches that they can drive -- as Jose Miranda showed in an awkward, inning-ending check-swing that stranded a pair of runners in the third, and Michael Helman similarly showed to end the game.

“I think that is maybe a little frustration, guys wanting to do something for our team, and to go out there and be the person that's going to get it going,” Baldelli said. “Sometimes, trying to do less leads to more, and it's something that I believe in.”

But that’s looked tough for a young, depleted team to internalize as many of the players navigate their first September playoff chase while also trying to help the team push out of this funk.

“It’s unfamiliar territory for a lot of us, but we’re leaning on the vets who are doing a good job of keeping the atmosphere and the vibes in the clubhouse well,” said rookie David Festa, who struggled with command in a short, four-inning start. “Obviously, we’re not playing great baseball, but we look to bounce back tomorrow and get something going.”

The Angels opened the game with a walk, double and Nolan Schanuel two-run single off Festa to immediately drain the energy from the Twins’ dugout once again, a point driven home by Brandon Drury’s 459-foot moonshot in the third inning. Though the Twins scraped together two runs, a two-run blast by Niko Kavadas erased that progress, too.

The added pressure of all that playing from behind amid this recent funk, coupled with an ongoing 0-for-20 slump for Royce Lewis, the club’s remaining healthy star hitter, hasn’t helped as the offense has been held to five or fewer runs in 12 consecutive games, including eight games in which they scored two or fewer.

“It seemed like there was a dark cloud over us,” Trevor Larnach said. “Energy was low.”

It didn’t seem much different on Monday -- and it seems the Twins are still waiting.

“Maybe it comes tomorrow, maybe it comes the next day,” Baldelli said. “As long as it comes, we're going to feel good about that when it comes.”