KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Maybe it's fitting that the Twins escaped with a 5-4 victory over the Royals on Sunday in the final meeting of the regular season between the two teams. The series included several tense games, and this one was no different.
The Twins jumped to a 4-0 lead only for Kansas City to claw back with two runs in the third and force a battle of the bullpens in the late innings. After the Royals scored in the seventh, Nelson Cruz blasted a 99 miles per hour fastball from Trevor Rosenthal over the center field wall for a big comfort run. For Cruz, it was his 10th homer of the season and sixth against Kansas City.
It ended up being a big run, as the Royals got an RBI single from Maikel Franco in the ninth before Taylor Rogers closed the door for his sixth save.
The Twins, who were swept by the Royals in Kansas City two weekends ago, took two of three games in this series and finished 5-5 against them in the series _ and probably and glad it's over.
But things don't get easy, as the Twins now head to Cleveland for a big three-game series against a team chasing them in the AL Central division.
The Twins looked ready to run the Royals out of their own ballpark early on. Miguel Sano doubled in a run in the first _ his seventh straight game with an extra-base hit _ and Eddie Rosario followed with an RBI single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. Gonzalez doubled with the bases loaded in the fourth, scoring two for a 4-0 lead.
There were two runners on base, no outs and the Royals bullpen activated. Just when it looked like they would break the game open against lefthander Kris Bubic, they made three consecutive outs. One was a missile by Jake Cave that was stabbed by Hunter Dozier at first that would have scored two runs.
The Twins did not know at the time that they would enter the ninth inning 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They entered the game leading the majors with a .307 average in those situations.
Sean Poppen nearly got out of the seventh in a matchup with the top of the Royals order, but Hunter Dozier reached with a two-out single, and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went with Sergio Romo to face slugger Jorge Soler. But Romo walked Soler, and Franco followed with a line drive that popped out of the glove of third baseman Marwin Gonzalez and into left field for an RBI single.
Romo got through the inning but swore at himself as he left field. Cruz made everyone feel better with his insurance run in the ninth.
Now, on to Cleveland.
The Twins took three of four games from Cleveland at Target Field on July 30-Aug. 2, the one loss coming at the hands of Shane Bieber, who might be the best starter in the league. The Twins have managed to remain in first place. doing so with more pitching and defense and less power _ and while managing a blooming injury list.
Cleveland is 12-6 since leaving the Twin Cities, sporting the league's lowest ERA while surviving on whatever offense it can generate. Cleveland entered Sunday 23rd in runs scored. Neither team scored more than four runs when they met at Target Field last month, so the Twins will prepared for a pitching collision and hope the offense flashes back to 2019.
