KANSAS CITY, MO (AP) – Ryan McBroom hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, the Kansas City pitching staff held the powerful Twins to just a pair of solo homers, and the Royals beat Minnesota 3-2 on Friday night.
Nick Heath and Nicky Lopez also drove in runs for the Royals, who have won two straight after a six-game slide.
Jakob Junis served up homers to Byron Buxton and Marwin Gonzalez before leaving with two outs in the fifth inning, and Greg Holland (2-0) led four relievers in holding down the Twins the rest of the way. Trevor Rosenthal retired the final three batters in order for his second save.
Matt Wisler (0-1) served up McBroom’s homer as Minnesota lost a one-run game for the second consecutive night.
The quintessential power-versus-pluck game played out through the first five innings.
The Twins, who came into the game fourth in the league in homers, got another when Buxton went deep for the second straight night leading off third. Gonzalez hit his over the center field fence with one down in the fourth.
The Royals, whose popgun offense came alive with 13 runs against the Cubs on Thursday, resorted to small-ball to coax across their first runs. Maikel Franco scored in the third after a double, sacrifice bunt from Lopez and a base hit by Heath, and Alex Gordon scored in the fifth after a single, Franco’s groundout and Lopez’s sharp single.
Whit Merrifield nearly broke the game open with a three-run shot later in the fifth, but Twins left fielder Nick Cave drifted back to the wall and made a leaping grab in front of the Minnesota bullpen to keep the game knotted 2-all.
The Royals finally got a long-ball of their own when McBroom hit the second of his career in the sixth.
Comments