"Jim Thome did his best to put the Twins on his aching, aging back Monday night, homering twice in his return from the disabled list, but even a Hall of Fame-bound slugger couldn't save this team.

Thome's second home run of the ballgame put the Twins up 7-4 in a game they once trailed 4-1, but Joe Nathan gave up two runs in the eighth inning, forcing manager Ron Gardenhire to bring in Matt Capps for a five-out save.

Charged with protecting a one-run lead in the ninth, Capps folded, blowing his fourth save of the season as the Twins collapsed yet again in an 8-7, 10-inning loss to Seattle that brought their losing streak to four games.

After Seattle tied the score in the ninth, the Twins had little left in the bullpen. Anthony Swarzak came out for the 10th, gave up two singles, intentionally walked the bases loaded and gave up a game-winning sacrifice fly to former Twin Luis Rodriguez.

And after amassing seven runs in a nine-inning span, the Twins' beleaguered offense - by then without Delmon Young, who left the game with a leg bruise after fouling a ball off his left leg, and Michael Cuddyer, who left with right hip tightness - had nothing left to give.

"A tough loss, kind of overshadowed a great day by Jim Thome," Gardenhire said. "Unfortunately for us, we couldn't finish off a ballgame."

Thome didn't get to say goodbye to Harmon Killebrew at the hall of famer's funeral last week in Arizona, and so on Monday night one storied slugger honored the other in the most fitting way possible. In his first game back from the disabled list, Thome mashed a ball above the right-field wall, over the seats and onto the concourse beyond the flagpoles, a 465-foot remembrance that Killebrew no doubt would have appreciated.

Just for good measure, Thome offered up one more celebration of Killebrew's legacy in the seventh with a two-run homer - this one to left field - that put the Twins up by three.

But, in the end, Thome's night was just another feel-good story wasted, another bright spot dulled by subpar defense and troubled pitching. "