Royals turn slick double play to stave off Twins rally: ‘That’s the game right there’
Half of the Royals’ season-high 18 hits in Saturday night’s 10-7 win over the Twins came in the first three innings.
The Royals jumped to a 6-0 lead and appeared ready to run away with a victory.
Instead, the Twins scored three runs in the fourth inning against starting pitcher Jordan Lyles.
In the sixth inning, José Cuas relieved Lyles and gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Max Kepler. After an out, Byron Buxton doubled, Matt Wallner walked and Christian Vázquez added an RBI single to make it a 6-5 game.
Dylan Coleman entered the game and got ahead 0-2 on Willi Castro before hitting him with a pitch to load the bases.
Then came the pivotal play of the night.
Carlos Correa hit a ball to the left of Royals second baseman Michael Massey, but he made a diving stab, whirled and threw to shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. at second base for an out.
Witt then made a strong throw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
“Off the bat, I didn’t know how hard he hit it,” Massey said. “I think Coleman made a great pitch and got it off the end of the bat a little bit, so it slowed it up for me, and then Bob made an unbelievable throw.”
The expected batting average on the ball off Correa’s bat was .480. Instead it was a, well, Twin killing.
Rather than seeing the Twins tie the game or possibly take the lead while still having runners on with one out, the Royals’ slick defensive play ended the threat.
“I thought for sure it was a hit as soon as it left the bat,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “But Mass, he had a good jump on it and had a really nice feed and Bobby made an accurate throw.
“So quite honestly, that’s the game right there. I mean, you have a chance to come back if they take the lead or whatever, but that’s a turning point in the game.”
