Kansas City Royals and Brady Singer victimized by long ball in a 9-2 loss to Twins
For at least one night, the Kansas City Royals had to feel like they were facing the “Bomba Squad” Minnesota Twins again.
That moniker appropriately accompanied the 2019 Twins club that set multiple club records for home runs on its way to the AL Central Division title.
The Royals fell victim to déjà vu as the Twins launched five home runs off of Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer. The Royals took a 9-2 loss on the chin in front of an announced 19,532 in the second game of a three-game set at Target Field on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
“This is a team that thrives and has most of their success with the long ball, especially in this ballpark,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of the Twins. “You’ve got to try to figure out how to navigate once you get to the two-strike count. Just didn’t have enough weapons to get it done.”
The teams will play a rubber match on Sunday afternoon. The Royals (64-78) will try to clinch a winning road trip with a win in the series finale. They’ve split the first six games.
Singer gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. Royals veteran relief pitcher Wade Davis gave up three more runs on three hits and two walks in one inning.
Royals shortstop Nicky Lopez had two hits and extended his on-base streak to 21 games. Lopez’s streak is the longest by a Royal since Jorge Soler’s 25-game streak from Sept. 14, 2019-Aug. 3, 2020.
Andrew Benintendi also had two hits, including an RBI single in the fourth inning to drive in the team’s first run. Benintendi has 13 RBIs in six games on the current road trip.
Hunter Dozier went 2 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI for KC.
The Royals had 10 hits, but they went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position.
“That’s baseball,” Dozier said. “We had 10 hits, just didn’t have that big one. But I feel like lately we’ve been having those big hits. We’re going to have nights like this. It’s part of baseball.”
Royals third-base coach Vance Wilson got ejected in the seventh inning by home-plate umpire Greg Gibson for arguing from the dugout. Tony Pena Jr. replaced Wilson for the final two innings as third-base coach.
Sunday’s series finale is set for a 1:10 p.m. CT first pitch. The pitching matchup will feature Royals left-hander Kris Bubic (4-6, 5.07 ERA) against Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (2-2, 4.00).
This story was originally published September 11, 2021 at 10:01 PM.
