Twins walk off Royals again, win 5-4 on Brooks Lee's RBI single in bottom of ninth
Published in Baseball
MINNEAPOLIS — The winning streak may be over, but the thrill of victory hasn’t ended for the Twins.
Brooks Lee grounded a single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, driving home Carlos Correa with the game-winning run and the Twins won for the 16th time in 18 games, 5-4 over the Royals.
It was the Twins’ third win in four games on this homestand — and all three have been walk-off victories. This time, pinch-hitters Correa and Ryan Jeffers drew ninth-inning walks, setting up Lee to deliver a two-out hit off former Twins pitching prospect Steven Cruz, who was dealt to the Royals in the Michael A. Taylor trade two seasons ago.
Harrison Bader and Kody Clemens homered and Ty France drove in two runs with a two-out single, just the latest contributions from the Twins’ not-quite-castoffs. The trio, each of whom was acquired for a bargain price with low expectations, have combined to drive in 60 runs over the season’s first 51 games. France had a walk-off home run Friday night.
Those runs came off Royals starter Michael Wacha, the veteran right-hander who hadn’t allowed so much offense in his last eight starts. It didn’t appear he would Saturday, either, as he didn’t allow a Twin to reach second base in the first four innings while the Royals built him a 4-0 lead.
But Bader broke that spell with a blast into the left-field seats to lead off the fifth inning. Wacha then hit Willi Castro with a pitch and gave up a one-out single to Christian Vázquez. With two out, France got behind 0-2, but eventually lined an opposite-field single down the right-field line, scoring both runners and giving France the Twins’ RBI lead this season with 28.
And when Clemens led off the sixth inning with a high fly deep into the right-field seats — his fourth home run in his month with the Twins, and third that either tied the game or gave the Twins a lead — Wacha’s day was suddenly done.
Zebby Matthews started for the Twins, and struck out a career-high nine batters in four innings. But his outing included one rough trip through the Royals’ lineup. A walk and three singles, the last of them a bases-loaded, two-run looping line drive into right field by Maikel Garcia, gave Kansas City an early lead.
Justin Topa relieved Matthews in the fifth, and doubled the Royals’ lead with a walk, and RBI double by Vinnie Pasquantino and a single by Salvador Perez. But the Twins’ bullpen kept the Royals off the scoreboard for the rest of the game.
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