MLB: Royals 5, Twins 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. On an afternoon the Royals sought their first series sweep of the season, they struggled to muster offense against the Twins. They were held to two hits through six innings, limited to a couple of runs and otherwise neutralized by one-time Royals prospect Jake Odorizzi.
But when Drew Butera, the very same backup catcher the Royals were forced to use as a reliever at Kauffman Stadium two weeks ago, connected his bat for a hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, the Royals inability to create opportunities faded into the background.
Buteras go-ahead hit bounced in front of a diving Jake Cave. As the ball trickled all the way to the warning track, Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar scored easily to give the Royals a lead. By the time Max Kepler reached the ball in deep right-center field and relayed the ball back to the infield, Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele had given Butera the sign.
Butera, free-wheeling around the bases, headed home and slid feet-first into the plate with an inside-the-park homer. The roaring crowd of 18,107 demanded a curtain call. The Royals beat the Twins, 5-3.
Earlier, those in attendance saw Gordon rip his 500th career extra-base hit to left field, a double driving home Rosell Herrera and Lucas Duda, who reached base on shifted third baseman Eduardo Escobars error in shallow right field.
They saw Odorizzi allow one walk while striking out eight in six innings.
They saw a pair of spectacular stretches by Royals outfielders. Herrera robbed Mitch Garver of a hit in the second inning, tracking his line drive toward the left-center field gap against the sun and laying out on his right side to come up with the frame-ending out. Gordon charged and dived for a two-out line drive hit by Jake Cave in the third, stifling it with his glove as he crashed into the grass. The Twins challenged the play but New York umpires, unconvinced there was enough evidence to change it, ruled that the call on the field stood.
And they saw rookie Brad Keller rack up a career-high eight strikeouts as he scattered three hits and allowed three runs in seven-plus innings. Keller allowed a home run to Kepler, snapping a streak of 63 1/3 innings since he last allowed a homer.
As the Royals improved to 30-68, Wily Peralta recorded his second save in three days of work for the Royals.
