Royals 5, Twins 4: Alex Gordon had a season-high three hits and scored during a five-run fourth inning as host Kansas City won its fifth straight game.
Norichika Aoki and Omar Infante each tallied two hits and drove in a run while Billy Butler added two hits and scored for Kansas City, which has taken the first two games from Minnesota in this series after the Twins outscored the Royals 21-5 during a three-game sweep last weekend. Bruce Chen (1-1) yielded four runs and eight hits over five frames while Greg Holland struck out a pair during a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
Minnesota starter Kevin Correia (0-2) surrendered five runs (four earned) on nine hits and a pair of walks in six innings to extend his winless streak to eight starts. Kurt Suzuki had a solo homer and a two-run single while Chris Colabello recorded two singles and scored a run.
The Twins scored a run in the second on Aaron Hicks’ bases-loaded walk and again two innings later on Suzuki’s first home run with Minnesota before Kansas City generated all of its offense in the bottom half of the fourth. Gordon singled to open the frame, Butler followed with a double to deep right and Mike Moustakas delivered the Royals’ first run on a sacrifice fly.
Justin Maxwell’s single plated Butler to even the score while Aoki and Infante contributed RBI singles before they combined on a double steal moments later that led to Twins catcher Josmil Pinto’s throwing error and plated the Royals’ final run. Suzuki tightened things up in the fifth with a two-out grounder up the middle, but Minnesota could manage only a walk off three Kansas City relievers over the final four innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Royals’ last five-game winning streak came last August when they capped the run with a three-game sweep of the Twins. … Correia fell to 0-4 with a 7.08 ERA in four career starts at Kauffman Stadium. … Twins 1B Joe Mauer, celebrating his 31st birthday, went 1-for-5 with a bunt single and scored on Suzuki's single.
Minnesota | Kansas City | |
Kevin Correia | Player | Bruce Chen |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 5.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 6 |
9 | Hits | 8 |
6.00 | ERA | 7.20 |
Minnesota | Kansas City | |
Kurt Suzuki | Player | Alex Gordon |
2 | Hits | 3 |
3 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Minnesota | 8 | 1 | 12 | .235 | 19 | 12 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
Kansas City | 10 | 0 | 14 | .303 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |