Major League Baseball
Minnesota 10, Kansas City 5
When: 8:35 PM ET, Saturday, July 1, 2017
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 85°
Umpires: Home - Bruce Dreckman, 1B - Mike Everitt, 2B - Shane Livensparger, 3B - Ryan Additon
Attendance: 32448

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals could not keep Miguel Sano in the park or Eddie Rosario off the bases in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday night.

Sano hit a three-run homer and Rosario had a career-best five hits as the Minnesota Twins clipped the Kansas City Royals 10-5 to win the finale of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.

Mike Moustakas, Brandon Moss, Alcides Escobar and Alex Gordon homered in the opener to power the Royals to an 11-6 victory.

Rosario stroked five singles, drove in a run and scored three times in the nightcap.

The Twins increased their lead to 7-2 in the sixth inning with Jason Castro figuring into all three runs. He doubled in two runs and scored on a Joe Mauer single. Escobar and Jorge Bonifacio also committed errors in the inning.

Royals starter Jason Hammel (4-7), who was undefeated in five June starts, gave up seven runs (one unearned), nine hits, two walks and a wild pitch in 5 1/3 innings.

"I was in a pretty good shape with the pitch count going into the fifth inning," Hammel said. "For whatever reason, I started to get cute and trying to make perfect pitches again, which has got me in trouble before. I'm just going to erase this one and move on."

Twins right-hander Felix Jorge, who was making his major league debut after going 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA with Double-A Chattanooga, gave up three runs, seven hits and a walk in five innings plus one batter. He acknowledged he was nervous.

"I just concentrate on just me and the catcher," Jorge said. "I didn't try to look around. There were a lot of people. I just tried to concentrate on looking at the catcher and throwing what he wanted and just me and him."

The Royals tightened it with a three-run sixth that included a two-run Jorge Soler homer off Buddy Boshers. Escobar's two-out double scored Moss with the final run of the inning.

A Whit Merrifield error, a walk and two hits gifted the Twins with three runs in the ninth.

Sano, who homered in the first game, blasted a three-run homer in a four-run fifth inning. Sano has 23 RBIs in 10 games against Kansas City.

"I hadn't realized that," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I saw a note about his production against this team. A lot of those games were early when he got off to such a good start, but, you know, a big day today as far as the production.

"I think he's getting smarter about how to get back on track, you know, going through a stretch. It looks like he tries to slow down, tries to swing at strikes a little better, and when he does he's getting better results."

Rosario led off the fifth with a single and scored on Castro's double to right. Mauer walked on four Hammel pitches.

That prompted a mound visit from pitching coach Dave Eiland, who probably did not tell Hammel, "let's throw your next pitch right down the middle and see how far Sano can hit it."

Sano demolished Hammel's first pitch fastball far over the left-center field fence, an estimated 450 feet, with Mauer and Castro along for the ride to give the Twins a 4-1 advantage.

"I was trying to go down and away with a heater there and basically just left it out in the middle," Hammel said. "I was committed to him swinging there. You get a swing early there you can get a double play ball. But it wasn't meant to be."

Sano said he does not get too many first-pitch fastballs.

"But I saw that one and I thought I made good contact," Sano said.

In a battle of the Jorges in the first inning, Bonifacio doubled against Felix Jorge.

Bonifacio soon scored on Eric Hosmer's two-out, opposite field home run, his 11th homer of the season. Hosmer parked a 1-1 pitch into the left-field seats, an estimated 388 feet.

Robbie Grossman led off the game with a double against Hammel, but that was as far as he went. Hammel retired Mauer on a fly ball to left and struck out Sano and Max Kepler to strand Grossman.

Kepler doubled with one out in the fourth, but Hammel retired the next two hitters.

Hammel, however, could not prevent the damage in the fifth.

"I thought he threw the ball great the first four innings," Royals manager Ned Yost said.

NOTES: The Royals placed LHP Matt Strahm on the disabled list before the second game. He left in the opener with left knee inflammation. They recalled RHP Miguel Almonte from Triple-A Omaha. Almonte pitched a scoreless eighth inning in Game 2. ... The Twins summoned RHP Ryan Pressly from Triple-A Rochester. They optioned rookie RHP Alan Busenitz to their International League farm club. ... Red Sox manager John Farrell, Luke's dad, made it to Kansas City for his debut. ... Royals LHP Travis Wood and Twins LHP Hector Santiago are the Sunday probables. ... LF Alex Gordon's 24 career home runs against the Twins is the most by a Royal. Hall of Famer George Brett hit 23.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Kansas City
Felix Jorge Player Jason Hammel
Win W/L Loss
5.0 IP 5.1
2 Strikeouts 5
7 Hits 9
5.40 ERA 10.12
Hitting
Minnesota   Kansas City
Eddie Rosario Player Lorenzo Cain
5 Hits 2
1 RBI 0
0 HR 0
5 TB 2
1.000 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 14 1 22 .341 18 6 8 4 2 0
Kansas City 10 2 21 .286 12 5 5 1 0 3
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