Major League Baseball: Royals 11, Twins 8
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Mike Moustakas helped the Kansas City Royals take a nine-run lead in the second inning. They nearly gave it all away.
Moustakas homered, doubled and drove in four runs in the first two innings, Jorge Soler went 4 for 5 with a home run, but the Royals nearly blew the big lead before holding on for a 11-8 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
Moustakas double in the first scored Jon Jay and Alcides Escobar. Moustakas 12th homer was a towering two-run shot in the second that just made it into the front row of the right-field seats and barely fair.
According to Stat-cast, it had a 46-degree launch angle, the highest in the majors this season, and carried 339 feet.
I knew I hit it good, but I just wasnt sure if it would stay fair and if it was going to go far enough, Moustakas said. That was a high one for sure.
The Royals sent 11 men to the plate in a seven-run second to build a 9-0 lead. Soler nearly had a two-run homer in the inning, but after a review it was changed to a run-producing double. The second inning also included Ryan Goins two-run triple.
Every Royals starter had scored in the first two innings, but it almost wasnt enough.
We just couldnt slow them down, Royals manager Ned Yost said. We werent throwing strikes. We were leaving balls up. They just kept adding on, adding on, adding on.
The Twins chipped away at the Royals lead, including bases-empty home runs by Brian Dozier and Ehrie Adrianza in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively.
We fought back and then getting right back in the dugout, Dozier said. We were right where we needed to be as far as momentum shifting our way. We just couldnt capitalize on it.
Miguel Sano hit a two-run double in the Twins four-run sixth and scored on Eduardo Escobars two-out single, cutting the Royals lead to 9-8. Brian Flynn then struck out Max Kepler to end the sixth with runners on second and third, preserving the Royals lead.
Sano had a RBI single in the third and has hit in 17 consecutive games against the Royals with 30 RBIs in that span.
Hunter Dozier led off the Kansas City seventh with his first career home run. Soler homered in the eighth for his fourth hit, matching his career high.
Kevin McCarthy (4-2), the fifth of seven Kansas City pitchers, retired all four batters he faced and earned the victory.
I didnt want to use McCarthy today, Yost said. Hes been in four out of five, but we were at the point we had to. He came in and did a phenomenal job.
