RECAP: Royals 10, Twins 4; A Wet and Wild Win

Even with raindrops threatening to ruin the party, the Kansas City Royals offense came to life in a 10-4 rout of the Minnesota Twins.

It started early with a pair of doubles by Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain to plate the first run. Then Omar Infante was able to get Salvador Perez home with a sacrifice fly. That was just the beginning.

The third inning featured four Royals runs, which is more than they’ve scored in 21 full games this season. It was a classic Royals inning. Whit Merrifield singled to start the inning. Then Eric Hosmer singled, Kendrys Morales walked, Perez singled, Infante walked and Jarrod Dyson capped the scoring with a two-run single.

Then the rains came.

The offense didn’t stop, though, scoring two more in the fourth on a Merrifield double, Morales single and then a single from Orlando that was pretty interesting. He blooped a ball to center that Danny Santana charged hard and dove for. Initially, it was ruled that he caught the ball, but replay showed that he trapped the ball. Ned Yost challenged the call and it was overturned. It was ruled that Morales was allowed to score and the Royals had their eighth run, tying a season high at that point.

The offense relaxed for a bit, but came alive again in the ninth with a couple singles by Perez and Orlando followed by a two-RBI double by Infante to give the Royals the first double digit scoring output of the season.

A quick bottom of the ninth gave the Royals a 10-4 win to push their record to 23-21 and cut their deficit in the AL Central to just three games.

Salvy Loves Twins

Perez entered the game hitting .305/.323/.469 with 14 doubles, two triples and nine home runs against the Twins in his career. His numbers at Target Field were even better (.345/.362/.586 with all nine home runs). He didn’t do anything to hurt those in this one, going 5 for 5 with a double, a triple, three runs scored and an RBI. The triple in the seventh put Perez just a home run away from the cycle, but he could only manage a single down the line. Alas, it will have to wait for another day. Probably in Minnesota.

Vote Kennedy

Ian Kennedy wasn’t at his sharpest in this one, but he didn’t have to be with the way the Royals offense played. Early in the game, he seemed to be just catching too much of the plate. That’s an issue that hasn’t been uncommon for Kennedy throughout his career. He allowed two runs in the first on a home run to Joe Mauer and some good sequencing by the Twins.

He really settled down after the first, but struggled with pitch efficiency after the rain delay. When the rain delay began, he had an 0-2 count on Miguel Sano, but struggled to put away hitters when he returned. He ended up throwing 36 pitches, but he struck out the side and allowed just one runner. He recorded one out in the fourth before being removed. That rain delay just really messed with his entire outing that probably would have ended up pretty good if not for having to sit so long.

The Royals big lead allowed the Royals to eat innings with middle relievers rather than ace relievers, which made the 3.1 innings pitched by Kennedy not seem to be that big of a deal. Kelvin Herrera did come in to pitch in the eighth, but with a pretty rested bullpen, that didn’t seem like too big of a deal. Plus, he only needed seven pitches to get two outs. It would probably be a bigger story if the offense didn’t do such great work early.

Eat, Drink and Be Merrifield

When Merrifield was called up between games on Wednesday, he was promoted because of his defensive versatility. Sure, the Royals believed his bat was big league ready enough, but Merrifield picked up his first multi-hit game in the majors in this one, including his first career extra base hit.

But he also showed off that versatility. He was plugged into the lineup in the second iteration of it when Mike Moustakas wasn’t ready to go after bruising his knee on Sunday. Merrifield’s action at third was the third different position he’s played in three starts. He even made a really nice play to start a double play off the bat of Kurt Suzuki in the sixth.

It’s not that Merrifield is Ben Zobrist or anything close, but it sure is nice to have a Swiss Army knife on the roster like that to be able to do basically anything needed.

No Gordo, No Problem

When Alex Gordon went down last season, many were worried about how the Royals would fare without their leader. Turns out they did pretty well, going 31-17 in his absence. Nobody should take that to mean the Royals don’t need Gordon, but they sure seem to step up without him.

As you should know by now, Gordon went on the disabled list with a fractured scaphoid, which is expected to sideline him for 3-4 weeks. The Royals got off to a good start in this stretch without Gordon with a big win against the Twins. Once this series with the Twins is over, the Royals will face their toughest tests of the season over the next few weeks without Gordon, so hopefully they can keep this up.

Up Next

The Royals continue their series with the Twins at 7:10 Tuesday night. It’ll be Edinson Volquez vs. Ervin Santana. Read all about it in the series preview.