Nelson Cruz leads Twins in rout of Royals
No vote need be taken. By the end of the sixth inning, Minnesota Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz had cemented himself the most feared man by Royals followers worldwide.
Cruz enjoyed one of the most-productive performances of the season at the Royals expense as he smashed three home runs, drove in five runs and scored as many times as the Royals did.
Cruz, who registered his second three-homer game in nine days, spearheaded an offensive onslaught that included the 10th five-homer game of the season for the Twins. The Royals suffered their eighth loss in nine games, 11-3 to the Minnesota Twins in front on an announced 36,823 at Target Field on Saturday night.
The Royals (40-72) will try to avoid being swept in the three-game set on Sunday afternoon.
“They’re not very forgiving,” Royals manager Ned Yost said of the Twins’ lineup. “Nelson Cruz is swinging the bat really well right now. I mean, he’s not missing anything. You throw something that’s got a little too much of the plate, and you’re going to regret it.”
The game did not start until 8 p.m. due to steady rain that kept the tarp on the field followed by an on-field ceremony honoring former closer Joe Nathan and inducting him into the Twins Hall of Fame.
Cruz, who now has 30 home runs this season, became the first Twins player with two three-home-run games in the same season. Two of his homers on Saturday came off Royals starter Danny Duffy, while the other came against relief pitcher Jorge Lopez.
Cruz also passed Chili Davis for the most home runs by a designated hitter in a season in the franchise’s history.
Jorge Soler had two hits, including his team-leading 29th home run of the season for the Royals. He remains on pace to surpass Mike Moustakas’ single-season club record for home runs (38).
Duffy (5-6) allowed nine runs (eight earned) on eight hits, including four home runs, and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. He also struck out five.
“It was definitely more than a forgettable night,” Duffy said. “I ran into a hot lineup and I didn’t make the pitches when I needed to.”
The Twins (68-42) jumped on Duffy early and kept pouring on the pressure.
Cruz’s two-run home run provided an early lead. After the Royals tied the score 2-2 the next half inning, Cruz and Company roughed up Duffy for three homers in the second. C.J. Cron, Jorge Polanco and Cruz went deep.
Polanco’s homer, a three-run shot, assured Duffy wouldn’t be able to minimize the damage. Then Cruz’s second homer, a mammoth 466-foot bomb, capped a five-run inning as the Twins grabbed a 7-2 lead.
The four home runs allowed by Duffy in the first two innings matched the most he’d allowed in a start. The last time he gave up four homers came at the Boston Red Sox on May 2, 2018.
Duffy made it into the fifth inning before turning the reins over to Jorge Lopez. Duffy got two outs in the fifth, but he gave up a single to Marwin Gonzalez, committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.
Two batters later with two outs, Max Kepler hit an RBI single and advanced to second on an errant throw home from right fielder Bubba Starling. Lopez came in and gave up an RBI single to Cron for the final run charged to Duffy.
The Twins led 9-2 through five innings, while the Royals had just two hits.
Duffy entered the night having gone 6-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 22 games (18 starts) against the Twins.
“I certainly have had some success here but every new day in the bigs you got to do your job,” Duffy said. “That mound was a very lonely spot in the second inning. It was a very poor performance when I needed to be good for my team.”
Cruz’s sixth-inning two-run homer capped the scoring for the Twins, while the Royals got one run in the seventh after loading the bases with no outs.
The Royals have given up 11 runs in each of the first two games of the series. They’ll turn to right-hander Brad Keller (7-10, 4.01) to try to reverse that trend on Sunday, while former Royal Jake Odorizzi (11-5, 3.84) is scheduled to start for the Twins.
Notes: Prior to Saturday’s game, the Royals announced they’d claimed right-handed pitcher Jacob Barnes off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers and optioned him to Triple-A Omaha. He’s made 167 appearances in the majors since 2016. This season, Barnes appeared in 18 games for the Brewers with a 6.86 ERA, a 1.68 WHIP, 22 strikeouts, 22 hits allowed and 11 walks in 19 2/3 innings. … Royals left-handed pitching prospect Daniel Lynch ended his rehab assignment (arm discomfort) in Arizona and made a start for the Burlington (Advanced Rookie level). He gave up four runs on eight hits (one home run) and one walk in four innings. He’s expected to progress from Burlington to High-A Wilmington, where he’d been this season prior to being shut down.
This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 11:05 PM.
