Royals shut out by Twins, swept in second consecutive series
Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller tossed seven strong innings, filled up the strike zone and allowed two earned runs or fewer for the 11th time this season. All he got to show for his work on the mound was a loss.
Keller, the workhorse of the Royals’ rotation this season, allowed a sacrifice fly and a solo homer to a Minnesota Twins club that entered the day with 29 more homers than any other team in baseball.
With a rookie hurler for the Twins confounding the Royals’ hitters, two runs were plenty. The Royals lost 3-0 in front of an announced 30,171 at Target Field on Sunday, and were swept for the second consecutive series.
The Royals (40-73) have now lost 9 of 10. They’ll continue their 10-game road trip and start a three-game series against the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox on Monday night at Fenway Park.
The Twins called up left-handed pitcher Devin Smeltzer from Triple-A Rochester prior to the game, and he started in place of former Royals pitcher Jake Odorizzi. Smeltzer got his first major-league win, and Odorizzi will start Monday against the Atlanta Braves.
“They’re swinging the bats really well, but (Keller) did a great job against them,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Their lefty did a great job of keeping the ball down.”
Keller entered his start having enjoyed a stellar July. He won three of his five starts last month, and he also posted a 2.12 ERA in those five starts and allowed two earned runs or fewer in four starts. In his previous four starts, he’d struck out 22 and walked three.
The Twins (69-42) scored 22 runs in the previous two games of the series. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz had terrorized Royals pitching. In the first two games of the series, Cruz went 6 for 8 with four home runs, two doubles and 10 RBIs.
Cruz went 0 for 3 as Keller quitted the loudest bat in the Twins lineup.
“We really didn’t want to leave anything over the middle of the plate,” Keller said. “The guy is swinging the bat unbelievably right now. It seems like he can’t miss. So the key was just making good pitches, staying ahead and staying with the attack.”
Keller (7-11) allowed two runs on five hits and one walk in seven innings. He struck out seven, and 72 of his 98 pitches were strikes.
Neither team mustered much of anything through the first five innings. In the sixth, the Twins scratched out the game’s first run after a Luis Arraez single. That was followed by what was ruled a wild pitch when a slider in the dirt squirted past Royals catcher Cam Gallagher, and then a slow roller to third, which Hunter Dozier made a great play on to get an out. That advanced to Arraez to third base.
Eddie Rosario drove a ball into right-center field that forced right fielder Jorge Soler to make a diving catch, and Arraez tagged and scored to give his club a 1-0 lead.
“We had unbelievable plays back there,” Keller said. “Dozier’s slow roller and, honestly, Soler saved a double, maybe triple right there. With Rosario’s speed, it could’ve been an inside-the-parker. That was tough, but we had unbelievable plays. It could’ve been a lot worse.”
Juan Castro’s solo homer with two outs in the seventh created a two-run advantage. Castro took a 1-1 pitch from Keller over the center-field wall and just out of the reach of outfielder Bubba Starling, who made a leaping attempt to bring the ball back.
Smeltzer (1-1) held the Royals scoreless over six innings. The left-hander allowed two hits, one walk and struck out four in his third major-league start. Relievers Tyler Duffey, Sergio Romo and Taylor Rogers provided three innings of no-hit relief.
Nicky Lopez and Alex Gordon had the only hits for the Royals, and Whit Merrifield went without a hit in back-to-back games for the first time in 135 games. He’d had the second-longest such streak in the American League since 1946, according to Sportradar.
This story was originally published August 4, 2019 at 4:13 PM.
