 with runners on first and second when third base umpire James Hoye signaled his chopper fair. But plate umpire Mark Ripperger came in and signaled it was foul, and after the two umps visited it was Ripperger's call that stood.Cruz followed a couple pitches later with his third RBI of the game.Trevor Hildenberger (1-0) got the final out of the ninth inning for Minnesota, and Blake Parker worked around a two-out walk in the 10th to earn his first save.Kansas City announced attendance as 10,024, the lowest at Kauffman Stadium since 9,279 against Cleveland on April 21, 2011.The Royals took the lead with one out in the eighth on an inside-the-park home run by Adalberto Mondesi, only for starter-turned-reliever Ian Kennedy to cough it right back up in the ninth.Jorge Polanco led off with a double and, after Nelson Cruz flied out, Eddie Rosario delivered his first hit of the season to tie the game. Rosario eventually reached third on a single by Marwin Gonzalez, but Kennedy bounced back to retire Jonathan Schoop and escape the inning.Mondesi finished a triple shy of the cycle, driving in a run with a single in the first and hitting a double in the third. Ryan O'Hearn also homered while Hunter Dozier added a sacrifice fly.The game was supposed to be a matchup of bright young pitchers, and the Twins' Jose Berrios and Royals counterpart Brad Keller followed up scoreless outings on opening day with solid starts.They just weren't around to see the finish.Berrios allowed three runs on seven hits over seven innings, while Keller struggled with his command most of the night. He got some help when Max Kepler was thrown out trying to steal second, but the right-hander still allowed three runs on five hits over six innings.The Royals bullpen nearly coughed up the game right after Keller took a bow.Tim Hill allowed back-to-back singles to the only two batters he faced, and Wily Peralta issued a full-count walk to load the bases with nobody out. But their erstwhile closer bounced back to bookend a pair of strikeouts around a lineout and left the bases loaded.Mondesi's drive off reliever Taylor Rogers in the eighth hit high off the wall, just past the outstretched glove of centerfielder Byron Buxton. It bounced far enough away that Mondesi was able to score with ease for his first career inside-the-park homer.Buxton was removed from the game in the ninth inning to be evaluated.NEW CATCHERThe Royals acquired C Andrew Susac from Baltimore for cash. Susac had been dropped from the Orioles' 40-man roster earlier this year and failed to make the major league team coming out of spring training. He's a career .221 hitter over parts of five big league seasons.TRAINER'S ROOMTwins RHP Matt Magill and LHP Gabriel Moya, both on the injured list with shoulder tendinitis, are throwing bullpen sessions in extended spring training. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Magill is ahead of Moya and both are ahead of LHP Addison Reed, who is dealing with a sprained thumb.UP NEXTThe Royals plan to add RHP Homer Bailey to the roster Wednesday to make his season debut against the Twins. RHP Kyle Gibson will start for Minnesota in the finale of their two-game set.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Twins hope stellar pitching continues vs. Royals After opening the season by winning two out of three games against the defending American League Central champion Cleveland Indians, the Minnesota Twins begin an eight-game, three-city road trip on Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals, their division co-leader.The Twins' Jose Berrios (1-0), who struck out 10 while allowing just two hits over 7 2/3 innings while outdueling two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in a 2-0 Opening Day victory, will oppose the Royals' Brad Keller (1-0), who also pitched 7 2/3 two-hit innings in a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Opening Day.Minnesota, which also will visit the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets on the road trip, comes into the opener of the two-game series after pounding the Indians 9-3 Sunday. A 427-foot two-run homer by designated hitter Nelson Cruz was among 15 hits by the Twins. Cruz had three hits, while five other Twins had two each as starter Carlos Carrasco gave up six runs and 10 hits in just 4 1/3 innings."It was a good day offensively for the whole group," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "You can look up and down the lineup, it was fun to watch." Center fielder Byron Buxton, who lined a two-run double off the bottom of the left field fence, told MLB.com, "We build off this. Like we said before we went out today, 'Don't try to go out there and do too much. Stay within ourselves. Be ourselves and the game will take care of itself.' And that's exactly what we did." Minnesota's starting pitching, considered a question mark entering the season, allowed one earned run in 17 2/3 innings (0.51 ERA) against the Indians while striking out 26 and walking four. Berrios and Jake Odorizzi, who had 11 strikeouts while allowing one run and one hit over six innings in a 2-1 loss on Saturday, became the second pair of teammates in MLB history to have 10-plus strikeouts in the first two games of the season."I think the biggest thing that stood out 1/8in the series 3/8 was pitching," Buxton said. That's what got us going. They kept throwing up zeros, and once we finally got the bats going, everything else took care of itself." No one was more impressive than 2018 All-Star Berrios, who set a Twins' Opening Day record for strikeouts."Yeah, that was impressive," Indians manager Terry Francona said afterward. "I wish I wasn't sitting here saying that. But not only was his velocity on his fastball, but he located, and he located it in enough, hard, then he'd throw a changeup off of that. He really manhandled us today." Keller, who finished 9-6 with a 3.08 ERA last season, was also impressive in his 2019 debut, allowing two hits, a walk and striking out five over seven shutout innings. The 23-year-old right-hander also didn't allow a runner to get past first base."We kind of expected that from him because we feel he's going to be a No. 1 starter for us for years to come," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "He was outstanding." The series concludes with an afternoon game on Wednesday.--Field Level Media
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