Minnesota got on the board early and cruised past Kansas City, keeping the Royals winless on the season. The Twins put up three on the board in the second inning. That deficit was cut by one run after the Royals put a tally up later in the contest, but they didn't have any hope left after the Twins pounded six more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Shortstop Eduardo Escobar was involved with both innings, bringing in the first run of the game and then ending it with a two-run shot to reach the 9-1 final score.
Royals only muster four hits
Kansas City struggled on offense with just one run on four hits.
Right fielder Paulo Orlando was able to bring in the lone run, Lorenzo Cain, with two outs in the fourth inning. Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert made his first start of the season and it wasn't pretty, grounding into a double play and also left a runner in scoring position.
Royals manager Ned Yost seemed to still be looking up after talking about the lack of offensive production in the season: "We just haven't had many opportunities to capitalize on. Little slow getting going with the bats right now, but we've seen that changes quick." The team has only managed seven hits total in the first two games.
Twins pour it on
Minnesota was very efficient in their domination, ringing up nine runs on just eight hits.
Part of it was due to their ability to produce walks. They had nine total bases on balls on the night. Catcher Jason Castro didn't even have an official bat on the night, instead just taking four walks and also accounting for two of the runs.
Third baseman Miguel Sano drilled a triple in the seventh inning to clear the bases.
That happened before Escobar was able to drill the home run when Matt Strahm came in. Starting pitcher Hector Santiago picked up the win after giving up just one earned run on four hits in five innings pitched.
Kansas City will attempt to salvage a game in this series when they play the final game on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 1:10 PM Eastern time.
