Dozier and Merrifield lead the way as Kansas City Royals score 11 to beat the Twins
The offenses certainly weren’t packing it in early as the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins embarked on the final weekend series of the regular season.
Hunter Dozier (3 for 5, two runs, two RBIs) and Whit Merrifield (3 for 4, two runs, RBI) led the way with three hits apiece, and Dozier hit his 16th home run of the season as the Royals slugged their way to an 11-6 win over the Twins in front of an announced 14,293 at Kauffman Stadium on Friday night.
“That was a great display all the way through,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “A couple guys with multiple hits, extra-base hits, driving the ball to the middle of the field. ... Putting a lot of pressure on, I loved what we did on the bases as well.”
The Royals (74-86) have now won three of their last four games, and they improved to 10-7 against the Twins this year. The Royals also clinched the season series between the teams.
On a night when the Royals star slugger Salvador Perez — the major league’s leader in home runs and RBIs — went 0 for 4 with a hit by pitch, the Royals still piled up 15 hits and four extra-base hits on the way to their largest scoring output since before the All-Star break.
Adalberto Mondesi went 2 for 4, ripped a pair of doubles and scored twice. Andrew Benintendi also went 2 for 4 with a double, and catcher Cam Gallagher recorded his third consecutive two-hit game. Gallagher also drove in two runs and executed a squeeze bunt.
Seven players drove in runs and seven scored for the Royals.
“It just shows how good our offense can be,” Dozier said. “One through nine, everyone was contributing. Everyone was having good at-bats. When we have nights like that, it’s fun.”
Rookie right-hander Jonathan Heasley (1-1) allowed four runs on six hits, including one home run, and one walk in 5 1/3 innings in his third major-league start. He didn’t give up a run until the fourth inning, and then the Twins (71-89) scored three in the sixth before the bullpen took over.
The Royals had four consecutive multi-run innings for the second time in their last 38 games. They scored two runs each in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings as well as three in the sixth as they built their lead to as many as seven runs on two separate occasions.
Dozier has batted .319 with 14 extra-base hits, including six home runs, and 15 RBI in his last 21 games. His fifth-inning homer on Friday night carried 422 feet to center field.
“I haven’t really seen a ball jump like that for him in that direction in a while,” Matheny said. “That is just a really good swing path.”
The teams continue their season-ending three-game set on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. The pitching matchup will feature Royals left-hander Kris Bubic (6-6, 4.52 ERA) against Twins right-hander Griffin Jax (3-5, 6.78 ERA).
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 10:55 PM.
