Royals rally in eighth for 4-3 victory over Twins

The World Series flag raised and championship rings distributed, the Royals resumed the everydayness of the baseball season Friday with an encouraging result.

The Royals scored two runs in the eighth inning to regain the lead they had just lost and went on to a 4-3 victory over the Twins in front of 27,166 fans at Kauffman Stadium.

Trailing 3-2, the Royals opened the eighth with Alex Gordon’s single to right. Up stepped Salvador Perez. His sinking line drive bounced in front of diving left fielder Eddie Rosario. The ball skipped past Rosario and rolled to the wall.

Perez chugged around second and beat the throw to third for the eighth triple of his 548-game career. Triple wasn’t on his mind as Perez approached second.

“When I got to second base, I see the ball still in the outfield, and I think, ‘Right now, let’s do it,’ ” Perez said.

He then scored the go-ahead run when Omar Infante lifted a fly ball deep enough to center.

Perez’s base-running daring was the key to the inning.

“In batting practice, every time he hits a ball in the game he says, ‘triple, triple,’ ” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

And Yost just shrugged.

“I’m never going to think that again after that,” Yost said. “It was a big hit, huge play. Then Omar’s sac fly equally was big.”

When the inning started, Chien-Ming Wang was warming up and set to make his Royals’ debut. After the triple, Wang returned to the bench and closer Wade Davis started getting loose.

Davis opened the ninth with a walk to Brian Dozier. It was the eighth base on balls surrendered by Royals pitchers, matching the most in any game last season.

Tension rose as Dozier stole second, but Davis struck out Danny Santana. Joe Mauer hit a one hopper that the 6-5 Davis reached to snag, and the Royals had Dozier trapped in a rundown. Dozier stayed alive long enough to get Mauer to second base. But Davis struck out Rosario to end the game and collect his second save.

The Twins had taken the lead in the eighth on Byung Ho Park’s 417-foot blast over the left field wall against Joakim Soria, the first major-league home run for Park, a slugger who hit 105 of them over the previous two years in the Korean Baseball Organization.

Minnesota started the season with three straight losses in Baltimore and scored two runs in each of the games. One more wasn’t enough on Friday.

The game marked the season debut of Royals starter Yordano Ventura, and for five innings Ventura mostly resembled the pitcher who finished the 2015 season strong, with a 9-2 record after the All-Star break.

After laboring through a 27-pitch first inning and surrendering one run in the second, Ventura retired nine of 11 batters over the next three innings.

But he opened the sixth by serving up a walk to Mauer after throwing his first two pitches for strikes, and also walked Miguel Sano. The six walks tied a career high, and with Ventura’s pitch count at 98, manager Ned Yost bounced out of the dugout to end Ventura’s night.

“He got in the sixth inning and got a little fine,” Yost said. “Up to that point, I thought he threw it really well.”

Reliever Luke Hochevar got Trevor Plouffe to fly out, moving Mauer to third, and after getting Park to swing at strike three in the dirt, Hochevar was an out away from escaping with the lead.

But Eduardo Escobar singled through the middle, and the Twins made sure Ventura would not be rewarded for his effort with a victory.

Reymond Fuentes got the most from his first base hit in a Royals uniform.

A spring-training hitting star, Fuentes made the team as the club as an option in right field along with Paulo Orlando with Jarrod Dyson opening the season on the disabled list.

Fuentes has started all three games — his first in the majors since appearing in 23 games for the Padres in 2013 — and stepped up for the first time Friday seeking to extend a two-out rally.

Perez had collected the Royals’ first hit off Ervin Santana, a solid single up the middle. Infante followed with a double to left.

Fuentes lined the first pitch he saw from Santana to right, scoring both runners.

“Men in scoring position, we were losing by one,” Fuentes said. “I had a fastball right there and I took advantage of it.”

That was it for the Royals against Santana, the former Royals pitcher who struck out seven in six innings.

Kurt Suzuki’s one-out double to the base of the left-field wall in the second drove home Eduardo Escobar, who had walked. The Twins might have done more damage that inning but Gordon’s stellar defense made its 2016 debut.

Gordon started the relay that wound up with cutoff man Eric Hosmer throwing out Suzuki at third.

Then, Gordon ran down Byron Buxton’s drive into the corner, with Gordon finishing the catch sliding on the warning track in front of the Kansas City Steak Company sign.

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 10:41 PM with the headline "Royals rally in eighth for 4-3 victory over Twins."