The Kansas City Royals scored in the eighth and the ninth innings to take control of what had been a tie game and beat the Minnesota Twins 5-3 at Target Field on Sunday in Minneapolis.
The Royals’ win gave them a series win in the three-game set in Minnesota and finished their road trip 4-3.
Whit Merrifield went 3 for 5, smacked two doubles, scored twice and drove in a run. Outfielder Kyle Isbel, who was recalled before the game, drove in the game-winning run with two outs in the eighth inning.
Andrew Benintendi had two hits and registered his 14th RBI of the road trip.
Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six.
Merrifield set the table for the day’s first run with a leadoff double to the wall in left-center field. He advanced on third on Lopez’s infield single, and then he scored on a Sal Perez sacrifice fly.
After the Twins tied the score in the bottom of the first on Luis Arraez’s sacrifice fly, Mondesi gave the Royals a 2-1 edge in the second inning. Mondesi smashed a 3-2 fastball 403 to right field for his sixth homer of the season.
The Royals added to that lead in the fifth inning on Merrifield’s second double of the game, a lopping liner down the right-field line that scored Ryan O’Hearn from second base. O’Hearn singled to start the inning.
The Twins had just three hitters reach base in the first five innings against Bubic, including leadoff hitter Byron Buxton. Buxton reached twice in that span, and he started off the sixth inning with a single.
The Twins evened the score in the sixth inning after Bubic allowed three of the first four batters of the inning to reach and load the bases with one out. Bubic’s only walk came in the sixth inning.
Reliever Domingo Tapia took over for Bubic with the bases loaded, retired the first batter he faced and then gave up a two-run double that tied it 3-3.
Isbel’s two-out RBI single into right field in the eighth inning broke the tie. Benintendi’s sacrifice fly in the ninth added an insurance run.
The Royals have a day off Monday before beginning a three-game series with the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night.
