KANSAS CITY, Mo. The Royals had a great idea on Wednesday. So the Twins copied it.
Billy Hamilton sparked Kansas City to a five-run inning to put the Royals in front at Kauffman Stadium, but Byron Buxton did the same thing four innings later. The result was a 7-6 victory for the Twins and a sweep of the two-game series.
Buxton, out of the lineup due to a bruised back he suffered the night before, was summoned as a pinch-runner after Nelson Cruz opened the ninth inning of a tie game with a walk. Two pitches later, he was standing on second base, having stolen his first base of the season and extended his consecutive-steal streak to a team-record 30.
When Eddie Rosario followed by pulling a 3-2 slider from Wily Peralta into right field, Buxton scored easily, restoring a lead the Twins had squandered earlier.
Max Kepler drove in two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game, and Mitch Garner drove in a pair, helping the Twins rally from a three-run deficit. Willians Astudillo went 3 for 5 with a double, giving him a .667 average (6 for 9) on the season.
That the Twins needed to climb out from under a three-run deficit came as a shock, given how routine Kyle Gibson was making his 2019 debut look. But from the safety of a two-out, two-strike pitch to the ninth-place hitter, the Twins right-hander drove off a cliff on Wednesday. And nearly took the Twins with him.
Gibson was enjoying a rather routine debut to his 2019 season at Kauffman Stadium, staked to a two-run lead and facing only token resistance in the form of a first-inning triple by Adalberto Mondesi and an RBI single by Alex Gordon from the Royals lineup. And in the fifth inning, Gibson quickly recorded two outs and got two strikes on ninth-place hitter Hamilton, when suddenly everything changed.
Gibson didnt throw another strike to Hamilton, awarding the light-hitting outfielder first base where he wasted little time stealing second. With that small spark, Kansas Citys offense roared to life.
Whit Merrifield singled Hamilton home to cut Minnesotas lead to 3-2. Then Mondesi hit a slow roller to second base, where Ehire Adrianza fumbled the ball and tossed it underhand to first, too late to beat the speedy shortstop. When Gordon followed with a 411-foot blast over the center field wall, the Twins suddenly trailed.
But the inning, worst of the Twins season so far, wasnt over. Jorge Polanco fielded a Jorge Soler ground ball and threw it over first baseman Tyler Austins head for an error. Ryan OHearn and Chris Swings followed with ground-ball singles, and Gibsons day was abruptly finished, behind 6-3.
But Adalberto Mejia allowed only a walk in 21/3 scoreless innings, and Trevor May pitched 12/3 innings to earn the victory. Blake Parker retired Gordon to end the game and improve the Twins to 4-1 on the season.
The Twins have Thursday off before beginning a three-game series in Philadelphia on Friday night.
