MINNEAPOLIS _ Willians Astudillo's two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Twins to a 3-1 win over the Royals, allowing them to take two of the three games in the series.
Max Kepler delivered a two-out double to bring Astudillo to the plate. And the impatient Astudillo _ he's known for not striking out or walking a lot _ jumped on a Jason Hammel pitch, lofting it into the seats in left.
It capped a well-pitched game. Chase De Jong's role on Sunday cannot be described as an opener. His job was to start and pitch as long as he was effective before being followed by Zack Littell.
But De Jong, 'opened,' with four scoreless innings, much better than the other quirky schemes the Twins have cooked up in recent weeks.
De Jong's Twins debut consisted of four scoreless innings and 73 pitches thrown. He faced 16 batters, leaving after he got three quick outs in the fourth inning. No longer relying on his sinking fastball, De Jong mixed his pitches and was effective challenging hitters up the strike zone, despite his best fastball hitting just 92 miles per hour on the radar gun on Sunday. He also showed off a nifty pickoff move, throwing out Alex Gordon to end the first.
The Twins rewarded De Jong with a 1-0 lead, as Robbie Grossman led off the second with a double then scored on Ehire Adrianza's single.
Zack Littell replaced De Jong and gave up one run over 31/3 innings _ a game tying home run to Adalberto Mondesi in the sixth.
One day after Kansas City's Jorge Lopez threw an eight-inning perfect game at them, the Twins offense sputtered once again, managing one run on four hits and three walks over six innings against Royals starter Ian Kennedy.
