Mondesi homers in the ninth, but Kansas City Royals’ late rally comes up short
The Kansas City Royals offense went silent for a four-inning stretch, but a late surge still put them within striking distance in the final inning.
Minnesota Twins pitchers retired 13 consecutive Royals batters from the end of the third inning until the eighth. However, Hanser Alberto doubled and scored in the eighth. Then Adalberto Mondesi’s first home run of the season pulled the Royals within a run with no outs in the ninth inning.
However, Hunter Dozier lined out to center field. Twins left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers struck out pinch-hitter Andrew Benintendi as well as Alberto and the Royals came up short: a 6-5 loss to the Twins in front of a season-high crowd of 18,444 at Target Field.
The teams will play the rubber match of their three-game set on Sunday afternoon.
“I thought we took some pretty good at-bats early,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It felt like we were about to do something big, and then next thing you know we got into a bullpen that was throwing the ball pretty good.
“A good late push, unfortunately it was just not enough.”
Royals outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler, who went 2 for 4 Friday night, left the game in the second inning with right groin discomfort on Saturday. Kelvin Gutierrez came in for him and Dozier moved from third base to right field, where Soler had started.
Right-hander Carlos Hernández came on in relief of Ervin Santana and pitched 4 1/3 innings. Hernández had made three relief appearances in April and then pitched as a starter in Triple-A prior to being recalled on Friday.
Hernández allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks on Saturday. He also struck out six.
He hit a little bit of a wall in the eighth inning when he gave up a double, got a groundout and walked a batter to start the inning. Veteran relief pitcher Greg Holland took over, and gave up an RBI single for the final run charged to Hernández.
The Royals (24-26) trailed 6-3 going into the ninth with the Twins (21-30) bringing in Rogers. Gutierrez doubled to left field to start the inning, and Mondesi turned on a slider on the inner half of the plate and smacked it into the left-field stands for a two-run homer.
Down a run, the Royals desperately needed to find a way to get the tying run on. Dozier’s lineout was still just the first of the inning.
While left-handed hitters don’t fare as well as righties against Rogers, Benintendi entered the day with the highest batting average (.284) and second-best OBP (.348) of any of the club’s everyday regulars. A left-handed hitter, Benintendi didn’t start the game against the Twins left-hander J.A. Happ.
Matheny turned to Benintendi to try to get a man on with one out in the ninth.
“You end this game with one of your best hitters, one of the highest on-base guys sitting on the bench, you’re not too happy with yourself,” Matheny said.
Benintendi and Alberto, who’d had a key double in his previous at-bat, struck out swinging.
The Royals struck out 12 times in the game, the fourth time on the current road trip they’ve had 10 strikeouts or more.
The Royals’ Salvador Perez hit his 10th home run of the season to move into a tie with Carlos Santana for the team lead.
Perez’s two-run laser in the third inning with Santana aboard tied the score 2-2. Perez now has 19 home runs at Target Field, the most by an opposing player in the ballpark’s history.
“I see the ball good here,” Perez said. “Hopefully, I’ll continue to hit homers. I don’t know. People ask me about that. You got something here? Where that’s coming from? Seriously, I don’t have any answers. I just try to do my job every time we play no matter what field we’re at. I try to do the best that I can do to help my team win.
“I don’t see any different. Nobody tells me nothing. I don’t get some signs. I don’t get anything.”
Twins pitchers retired 13 consecutive Royals batters following Perez’s home run.
The Twins took a two-run lead in the fourth as Ervin Santana gave way to Hernández.
Hernández entered the game following a lead-off walk. He then walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases. Hernández gave up an RBI single and an unearned run on a passed ball.
Hernández settled in and pitched well after those initial hiccups.
“I feel like I pressed a little bit right out of the gate,” Hernández said with assistant strength and conditioning coach Luis Perez serving as translator. “It took those two batters to kind of settle down and just think about attacking the zone. I really wanted to get the job done and went at it after those two.”
The game-deciding run came after he’d handed the ball over to Holland, but Hernández left with that runner on third base. However, Santana (0-1) took the loss.
MLB history
The Twins first-inning run, which scored on a double by Nelson Cruz that bounced into the stands, marked the two millionth run in major-league history according to MLB’s official statistics.
Josh Donaldson, who singled for the first hit of the game, scored the historic run. Bob Watson was credited with the millionth run scored in 1975. The first run in MLB history came April 22, 1876, and was scored by Tim McGinley of the Boston Red Stockings.
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 4:44 PM.
