Twins fall to Royals 3-2, lose three of four in AL Central series

KANSAS CITY, MO. – Cole Sands took the loss in the boxscore after a 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, giving up two runs in the seventh inning, but Twins hitters say they deserve the brunt of the blame.

“I don’t want to sit here and just give [Royals pitchers] all the credit,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “They made plenty of mistakes that we didn’t take advantage of.”

The Twins dropped three of their four games at Kauffman Stadium, and their pitchers permitted nine runs. They had one hit in nine at-bats with a runner in scoring position Thursday and went 4-for-21 over the past three games.

“When it really mattered, they were able to put a zero on the scoreboard,” Jeffers said. “I think that was probably the difference. Those situational tight-pitched games, you have to scratch off a run here, and we’re putting up a big zero.”

Sands, pitching with a one-run lead in the seventh, plunked Freddy Fermin with a first-pitch fastball, handing a free base to the No. 8 batter in the Royals lineup.

Sands watched Drew Waters poke a single through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners. Jonathan India followed with a game-tying RBI single to end a 10-pitch at-bat, fouling off five consecutive pitches, and Bobby Witt Jr. drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly to center field.

In an instant, Bailey Ober’s solid start was spoiled. Ober yielded five hits and one run across six innings.

“Gave them back some momentum there with the hit by pitch,” Sands said.

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The Twins didn’t create many offensive opportunities. Ty France drove an elevated fastball through the wind for a solo homer in the second inning, his second home run in as many days. In 15 career games at Kauffman Stadium, he’s batting .473 with three homers, nine doubles and 12 RBI.

Later in the second inning, Edouard Julien hit a one-out double to the wall in center field and moved to third on an error. On the next pitch, Jose Miranda hit a ground ball to third base. India dropped to a knee, fielding the ball to his left, then fired a throw to the plate. Julien, who was running on contact, had an awkward slide and was tagged out at the plate.

“Most of the time in that situation, infielders they lay out, they’re spinning, they’re not going to throw the ball home,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That was a good aggressive play by him to carry through with it. Eddy’s slide, I think he might have slowed himself down a little bit on that slide as opposed to going directly into the plate.”

The Twins didn’t have another runner reach third base until the sixth inning. Trevor Larnach and France drew back-to-back walks before Jeffers lined an RBI single through the middle of the infield against Royals reliever John Schreiber.

In the ninth inning, the Twins put two runners on base through a single and a hit batsman. Royals closer Carlos Estévez extinguished the threat with a strikeout and a groundout.

BOXSCORE: Royals 3, Twins 2

MLB standings

“I keep saying this the whole season so far: The ball has been falling the other way,” Jeffers said. “We have to do a better job of earning those.”

Baldelli added: “We have to force the issue. We have to put a few more runs on the board.”

Ober, who entered with a 6.49 ERA in six career starts at Kauffman Stadium, surrendered three consecutive singles in the first inning, a rally that started when Witt lined a slider above shortstop Carlos Correa. After Vinnie Pasquantino looped a fly ball into the left-center gap, a catchable ball that hung in the wind, Salvador Perez drove in a run with a line drive to left field.

As quickly as the Royals scored their first run — their three singles came within five pitches — Ober found his rhythm. He retired 11 of his next 12 batters, stranding Witt on second base after a one-out double in the third inning.

Ober exited after 73 pitches. He stranded two runners in his final inning, which included a loud flyout from Perez and a lineout from Maikel Garcia.

“His stuff as the game went on ticked down a little bit,” Baldelli said. “That definitely was part of the conversation. But overall he found a way to do what he normally does. This was a good outing for him.”

For the third time in the Twins’ past four losses, they held a lead after six innings.

“You’re so close,” Jeffers said. “Honestly, both teams could’ve come out of here with a sweep. They executed in the bigger situations than what we did.”