Lorenzo Cain atones for error, carries Royals to 5-4 victory over Twins

The pitch was a curveball, and Lorenzo Cain started his swing, his hips rotating and his leg muscles clenching and his hands moving forward.

There were two outs in the seventh inning Sunday at Target Field, and Twins reliever Alan Busenitz had just spun a 1-2 curveball that dived toward the dirt. One more strike would thwart a potential rally. But Cain held up in time, checking his swing as his momentum pulled his body downward. Or did he?

First-base ump Mike Muchlinski ruled that Cain did not swing. Minnesota manager Paul Molitor vehemently disagreed, yelling from the dugout and earning an ejection. The argument was at the heart of the Royals’ 5-4 victory over the Twins.

“That situation,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I think somebody’s getting thrown out any way it gets called.”

Moments after being granted a stay from Muchlinski, Cain saw a 97 mph fastball out over the plate and roped a go-ahead, two-run triple off the wall in right-center field. The baseball, a missile that sailed over the head of center fielder Byron Butxon, ricocheted off the wall, allowing Alcides Escobar to score from second and Whit Merrifield to sprint home from first, erasing a 4-3 deficit.

Cain, meanwhile, hauled around the bases and tore through a stop sign at third base, digging for an inside-the-park homer. The relay throw was on time and Cain was out at the plate. The moment was still pivotal.

Cain atoned for a costly error in the sixth inning, when his misplay on a line drive by Joe Mauer opened the door for two unearned runs against Royals starter Ian Kennedy. The Royals secured a series victory in Minnesota, rebounding from a humiliating 17-0 loss on Saturday night.

In three games, they were outscored 27-12. They took the series, anyway, remaining 3  1/2 games behind the Twins in the race for the second American League wild-card spot. The checked-swing call in the seventh was a topic of conversation in both managers’ offices after the game.

“I thought he went too far,” Molitor said. “It’s pretty simple.”

Cain, of course, had a different view. As he sat near his locker after the victory, he flashed a smile and let out an infectious laugh.

“How do I want to put this?” Cain said playfully, before launching into his defense of the call. “Every time, when I check-swing, I kind of drop my whole body into it. Normally, most times, it looks like I’m going. They normally say that I went.

“I think it was the right call. And I appreciate him doing that. Because I needed that.”

The Royals needed this, too, their season on the ropes after absorbing that clobbering Saturday night. They had fallen to two games below .500. A loss on Sunday would have left them 5  1/2 games behind Minnesota with 27 to play.

“It was a game that we absolutely had to have,” Yost said. “It just shows the character of our team.”

By the end, Cain had finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs, his glove both becoming a liability before ultimately saving the bullpen in the late innings.

Cain had let a line drive drop in the sixth. He also started a double play in the fourth by tracking down a ball in left-center, and then helped reliever Mike Minor strand two base runners with a running catch in deep center during an anxious eighth.

There was more late drama, of course. Reliever Brandon Maurer recorded his first save as a Royal by working around a two-base error by Alex Gordon on a ball in the gap in the ninth. Gordon, who entered as a defensive replacement, also made a sensational catch on a ball in front of him.

“Gordy makes that play just about every time,” Yost said of the error.

Maurer would find a way. His performance mirrored his team’s.

In his first start of September, Kennedy surrendered four runs (two earned) in 5  2/3 innings, moving forward after a brutal August. Melky Cabrera clubbed his 17th homer, giving the Royals a 3-2 lead in the sixth. And by late Sunday, a clubhouse of players prepared to fly to Detroit, still alive in the postseason race, still holding on entering an afternoon game Monday at Comerica Park.

“We needed that,” Cain said, “especially after yesterday.”

For Cain, it had been a full day. He had made a rare error. He had delivered at the plate. He had, depending on your point of view, perhaps caught a break from an umpire. He appreciated the act, too, pointing toward Muchlinski after the call.

“I like to show the umpire some love when they make a good call,” he said.

He had also run through a stop sign from third-base coach Mike Jirschele and taken a chance at an inside-the-park home run. The moment reflected the feeling in the visitors clubhouse. The Royals are 3  1/2 games out of a wild-card berth. Their starting rotation crumbled in August. But they still have a shot, still have something to play for in September. Why not?

“I hit third and I just kept going,” Cain said. “I just kept running. It was like: ‘To hell with it.’ ”

Royals 5, Twins 4

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Lorenzo Cain atones for error, carries Royals to 5-4 victory over Twins."