By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
It was by the skin of their teeth, but a go ahead run in the eighth inning was what the Royals needed to pull out a win over the Minnesota Twins for their third straight, winning 2-1 on Tuesday evening at Kauffman Stadium.
Kansas City took the first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Bobby Witt Jr doubled, he advanced to third on a hit by Vinnie Pasquantino, in which Pasquantino reached first thanks to fielding error by Twins second baseman Mickey Gasper. Salvador Perez grounded into a force out, where Pasquantino was thrown out at second, and Perez reached first safely, Witt Jr came around to score.
In the top of the fifth, Ty France hit a double for the Twins, and came home on a single by Harrison Bader to tie up the game. Until the eighth inning, it became a pitching duel as Royals starter Cole Ragans shut down the Minnesota lineup. Ragans pitched six innings, giving up four hits and just the one run, striking out 11 batters, but ended with a no decision, giving way to Angel Zerpa in the seventh inning.
In the eighth inning, after Jonathan India popped out to third base, Witt Jr stepped up to the plate. Witt Jr hit a grounder back to relief pitcher Griffin Jax, but Jax overthrew the first baseman France, and with his trademark speed, Witt Jr raced to third base. The next at bat, he was driven in by Pasquantino on a ground out to France.
John Schreiber, who had come on to pitch the eighth inning, remained on the mound to start the ninth, and recorded the first two outs before Kansas City called on Daniel Lynch to get the final out, earning his first save of the season.
While the Royals got the win, they did only record three hits on the day, with one hit from three different batters. Schreiber, who earned the win, pitched 1.2 innings giving up two hits and striking out one.
Kansas City and Minnesota matchup again in game three of the four game series tomorrow. Seth Lugo starts for the Royals against Joe Ryan for the Twins. First pitch will be at 6:40pm, with pregame coverage at 6 on KFEQ (680 AM/95.3 FM).
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