The Dodgers were swept in a three-game set for only the second time this season with a 6-3 loss against the Twins at the Metrodome. The club was outscored, 23-7, in the series and no Dodgers starting pitcher made it out of the sixth inning.

Twins center fielder Torii Hunter smashed a pitch from Odalis Perez in the first inning for a grand slam, and the Dodgers' offense couldn't put together an offensive threat against Johan Santana as the Twins won their seventh straight and 15th of their last 16 games.

"I made one mistake and I paid for it," said Perez, who went 4 1/3 innings and allowed six earned runs on 11 hits. "Now I can do nothing about it."

Perez (4-4) started in place of Brett Tomko, who landed on the 15-day disabled list with a left oblique strain on Tuesday. It was Perez's first start since June 7.

After sitting down the first two batters in only five pitches to start the game, Perez found himself in trouble. The right-hander surrendered consecutive singles to Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer, who each were down, 1-2, in the count.

Then Justin Morneau hit a soft ground ball up the middle, which second baseman Jeff Kent scooped up, but Kent was unable to make a play at any bag. Perez nearly got his glove on the ball, too.

"It was my fault," Perez said. "I should have made a different pitch or a better pitch or made the catch.

"If I tried harder, I may have made that catch."

Perez wished the inning would have ended then. Instead, following Morneau's single, Hunter knocked a 1-2 breaking ball over the wall in left field for his 12th home run of the season and his sixth career grand slam.

In the series' first three innings, the Dodgers were outscored, 14-2.

"We had about [three] hitters with two strikes on them and we couldn't put them away," manager Grady Little said. "That was the game."

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In the three-game series, Dodgers starters threw only 15 1/3 innings, allowing 30 hits and 21 earned runs for a 12.33 ERA. Rookie Chad Billingsley struggled with his location on Monday, Derek Lowe allowed the Twins to bat around in the second on Tuesday, and Perez couldn't finish off any of the four batters he was ahead of in the count with a pair of outs in the first.

In the fifth inning, Perez surrendered three consecutive doubles, which led to two more Twins runs and his exit. Perez hasn't completed the fifth inning in his four starts.

The Dodgers put together a threat in the eighth inning off reliever Juan Rincon, but the comeback attempt was thwarted when the bottom half of the order came up. The club's six through nine hitters batted 2-for-41 in the series with no runs, no RBIs and 13 strikeouts.

With the bases loaded and two out, Olmedo Saenz, who went 2-for-4, hit a double to center field off Rincon to drive in all three runs, cutting the deficit in half. But Sandy Alomar, who had doubled in the second inning, flew out to left.

Twins closer Joe Nathan struck out the side in the ninth.

Santana (9-4) struck out nine in seven innings and allowed just two hits. He retired the leadoff batter each inning and allowed just two baserunners to reach second base.

"Some good pitching did stop some good hitting in this series," Little said. "We just had three bad games offensively here."