The Kansas City Royals aim for their first back-to-back wins since early July when they host the Minnesota Twins on Saturday evening.
In the opener of the three-game series on Friday, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning, lifting Kansas City to an 8-5 win.
The Royals prevailed with five-time Gold Glove catcher Salvador Perez manning first base.
With Nick Pratto going to the injured list due to a left groin strain and Vinnie Pasquantino out for the season with a right shoulder injury, the Royals turned to Perez.
Making his fifth career start — and first since 2020 — at first base on Friday, Perez was quickly tested, diving to his right for Max Kepler’s sharp grounder and flipping to pitcher Brady Singer to end the first inning. In the fifth inning, with the bases loaded, Perez made another diving stop, this time to his left, and then tossed the ball to Singer to end the threat.
“We’re comfortable with Salvy over there,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “We talked to him about this in spring training. It’s taken us until July to get into a situation where we actually needed this. It’s a good thing that he’s had the ability to do it.”
Right-handers will take the mound on Saturday as Minnesota’s Bailey Ober (6-4, 2.76 ERA) opposes Kansas City’s Jordan Lyles (1-12, 6.19).
In six career starts against Kansas City, Ober is 0-1 with a 4.00 ERA. He allowed one run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Royals on April 29. MJ Melendez has one hit — a homer — in nine at-bats against Ober.
Ober surrendered three runs (two earned) over six innings in his latest start, a 5-4 win against the visiting Chicago White Sox on Sunday.
In five career starts against Minnesota, Lyles is 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA, taking both losses this year. He allowed two runs (one earned) in 5 1/3 innings on April 1, then was hammered for seven runs in four innings on April 28.
Among Twins hitters, Carlos Correa has faced Lyles the most, producing four hits and one RBI in 21 at-bats. Max Kepler has two hits in eight at-bats against Lyles, both home runs.
Despite Jhoan Duran surrendering Witt’s grand slam — his second blown save and third loss in his past nine appearances — Minnesota’s faith in its closer remains strong.
Witt turned around Duran’s 101.8 mph four-seamer to left-center clear the bases, sending first-place Minnesota to its third straight loss. Duran has allowed 10 runs (seven earned) on 12 hits over his past 8 2/3 innings.
Two uncharacteristic walks set the table for Witt’s heroics, the first walks Duran issued since July 2.
“I’m not worried about him getting hit,” Twins pitching coach Pete Maki said. “It’s not going to be a sustainable thing. The thing to address is the free passes. It’s not like him. He’s traditionally been a great strike-thrower. It’s just a little blip on the radar.”
Maki added, “He’s been working on the shape of his breaking ball. With that comes some feel for command that’s not quite there, but it’s still a great pitch. We’ll continue to have him throw it. He got into three-ball counts, got behind hitters. It doesn’t matter how good you are when you get into three-ball counts. That’s all that happened today.”
While Minnesota’s offense is powered primarily by the long ball, the Twins also create havoc on the bases. The double steal of home has become a weapon of choice. On Friday, Ryan Jeffers and Willi Castro executed it perfectly, with Castro scoring to give Minnesota a 2-1, fourth-inning lead.
Castro has stolen home three times this season. No Twins player had done it even once since the start of the 2014 season. Hall of Famer Rod Carew holds the franchise’s single-season record with seven in 1969.
–Field Level Media
