Kansas City 5, Minnesota 3
When: 2:10 PM ET, Sunday, September 12, 2021
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature:
64°
Umpires:
Home -
Ben May, 1B -
Rob Drake, 2B -
Will Little, 3B -
Greg Gibson
Attendance:
19496
By Field Level Media
Kyle Isbel drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the eighth inning and the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-3 in the rubber game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Adalberto Mondesi homered and Whit Merrifield had three hits, including a pair of doubles, and scored twice for Kansas City (65-78). Jake Brentz (4-2) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief while Scott Barlow notched his 12th save.
Byron Buxton went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored and Brent Rooker had a two-run double for Minnesota (63-80).
The game was tied 3-3 in the eighth when Andrew Benintendi led off with a single to right off reliever Jorge Alcala (3-6). He went to second on a walk by Carlos Santana, who was swapped out for pinch-runner Hunter Dozier.
Mondesi sacrificed the runners to second and third, but Benintendi was then thrown out at the plate on a grounder by Ryan O'Hearn. Isbel, called up earlier Sunday from Triple-A Omaha when Michael A. Taylor was placed on the family medical emergency list, then drove in Dozier with a single to right.
Benintendi added an insurance run in the ninth with a sacrifice fly to tie the Royals record for RBIs for a seven-game road trip (14) set by Jeff King in 1997 and equaled by Kendrys Morales in 2016.
Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the first against Twins starter Bailey Ober when Merrifield led off with a double that one-hopped the fence in left-center, advanced to third on an infield single by Nicky Lopez and scored on a sacrifice fly by Salvador Perez.
Minnesota tied it in the bottom of the first when Buxton led off with a ground-rule double to left, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Luis Arraez.
Mondesi gave the Royals a 2-1 lead in the second with his sixth home run of the season, a 403-foot drive into the plaza behind the bleachers in right. Merrifield made it 3-1 in the fifth with a bloop double that landed on the right field line, driving in O'Hearn.
Minnesota tied it 3-3 in the sixth. Buxton and Rob Refsnyder led off with back-to-back singles and Josh Donaldson walked to load the bases. Rooker then lined a two-out double off reliever Domingo Tapia to left to drive in Buxton and Refsnyder.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Kansas City |
|
Minnesota |
Kris Bubic
|
Player |
Bailey Ober
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
5.1 |
IP |
4.1 |
6 |
Strikeouts |
6 |
4 |
Hits |
5 |
3.38 |
ERA |
6.23 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Kansas City
|
11 |
1 |
16 |
.324 |
17 |
11 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
Minnesota
|
6 |
0 |
8 |
.188 |
16 |
11 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |