Royals rally in ninth, nail first Thursday win of year

In a game that featured a rain delay in the middle of it, the Royals prevailed in their series opener against the Minnesota Twins, 8-6. After losing their first three games of their current road trip, the Royals have won three out of their last four, including their last two.

Josh Rojas, called up earlier today, played the unlikely hero. In his first plate appearance as a Royal, Rojas pinch-hit for Nick Loftin in the top of the ninth with runners on second and third with one out and the game knotted at 6-6. Against Twins relief pitcher Justin Lawrence, Rojas knocked a pitch up the middle, scoring Tyler Tolbert—pinch-running for Salvador Perez, who led off the inning with a line drive single on an 0-2 pitch—and Lane Thomas.

Alex Lange, for the second night in a row, came in to lock down the win. He did the job, but he made it pretty interesting. Victor Caratini led off the inning with a single. One out later, the Royals nearly turned a game-ending double play, but Orlando Arcia just beat the throw to first, keeping the Twins alive for slugger Byron Buxton, who led off the game with a homer.

Buxton eventually walked in his plate appearance and represented the tying run while the potential winning run came to the plate in the form of Brooks Lee. Thankfully, Lee feebly grounded out to Tolbert, who stayed in the game at second base, to end the game.

The game was a seesaw for most of the night featuring multiple ties: 1-1 after the first, 2-2 after the second, 3-3 after three-and-a-half, 5-5 in the top of the sixth, and then 6-6 after six.

Seth Lugo started for the Royals and had his worst outing in some time. He didn’t come back after the game resumed from its rain delay, but even before that, he struggled through five innings in which he gave up six hits, walked one, struck out four, and allowed five earned runs, including giving up three home runs—the aforementioned leadoff homer to Buxton plus two to Kody Clemens, who’s turning into a true horror for the Royals to face.

Events turned in the Royals’ favor in the top of the sixth. Carter Jensen broke out of an 0-for-13 slump with a slap down the third base line—0ff a lefty, no less. The hit easily scored Isaac Collins, but right behind him came Kyle Isbel. The throw to the plate beat Isbel by a fair margin, but Isbel slid in under the tag. The home plate umpire called him safe, which he was, and the Twins declined to challenge. That tied the game, 5-5.

Next up, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a lazy pop-up that fell to the ground when the Twins middle infielders bumped into each other like a scene out of Major League III: Back to the Minors, which, oddly, was about the Twins, not Cleveland. Anyway, Jensen scored to give the Royals the lead.

After the rain delay ended, John Schreiber, bless his heart, came in and, with two outs, surrendered the lead when Caratini took him deep. That would be the last run of the night for the Twins.

Daniel Lynch IV and Matt Strahm combined for scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Strahm picked up the win, improving to 2-1. Lynch’s ERA dropped to 1.78.

Second baseman Michael Massey continued his hot streak. Massey went 2-for-4 with a homer and a single. He also flew out to deep right on a hard-hit ball.

With the win, the Royals improve to 25-38. It is their first win on a Thursday this season. I should know. It is also the first time since May 23-24 that they’ve won consecutive games, and it’s the first time since May 2-3 that the Royals won consecutive games on the road. Can they play the Mariners more?

Game two of the four-game series is tomorrow evening at 7:15 CST.