KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Jose Berrios was a strike-throwing machine. Miguel Sano, Jake Cave and C. J. Cron belted 1,329 feet of home runs. The Twins looked to have things well in hand.
Until Berrios came down with a balky finger in the eighth inning. He left the game with two runners on and no one out for the normally reliable Taylor Rogers. Rogers got two outs before the Royals scored three runs to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
But the Twins pushed across two runs in the 10th to pull out a 5-3 win, their third extra-inning victory of the season.
Luis Arraez led off the 10th with a single to left and Cave was hit by a pitch. After Jorge Polanco flied out, Cron hit a 1-2 pitch from Wily Peralta into left for a single, scoring Arraez. Nelson Cruz struck out, but Eddie Rosario doubled to right to score Cave.
How much in control was Berrios? With two outs in the seventh inning, on a 3-2 pitch, the Royals' Cheslor Cuthbert lined a double over Rosario's head in left. It was the first time all game Berrios had given up a batted ball with an exit velocity of at least 100 miles per hour.
Berrios made it look easy on Saturday. He made a 1-0 lead _ thanks to a 454-foot home run by Sano in the second inning _ hold for five innings. Cave hit a 437-foot blast in the eighth, followed by Cron's 438-foot shot.
Berrios put on a strike-throwing clinic until the eighth, then his precious right hand let him down.
He gave up a single to Humberto Arteaga, wild pitched him to second, then walked No. 9 hitter Cam Gallagher. The sequence looked so out of place, something had to be wrong. And there was.
Pitching coach Wes Johnson went to the mound to a chat, but trainer Tony Leo and manager Rocco Baldelli soon followed. Berrios had to leave the game due to a blister on his right ring finger.
Rogers, who had just started warming up, was brought in. He got two outs but Alex Gordon doubled in a run. Jorge Soler was hit by a pitch. Hunter Dozier hit the first pitch he saw up the middle for a two-run, game-tying single that woke up the Royals fans at Kauffman Stadium.
The Twins were retired in order in the ninth. Trevor May pitched the ninth, walking Arteaga with one out. Terrance Gore stole second, which was a formality. May struck out Gallagher, and Whit Merrifield was walked intentionally so May could face Nicky Lopez, who flied out, leading to extra innings.
