Last place Royals tune up Twins with 18-hit attack
Make it four straight losses for the Minnesota Twins after they were thumped by the Royals 10-7 Saturday night in Kansas City.
The Royals pounded out 18 hits and led from start to finish, putting up six runs on nine hits in the first three innings against Bailey Ober, who allowed two more hits in the fourth inning before being removed from the game. Minnesota's bullpen wasn't much better as it surrendered four runs and seven more hits over the final five innings.
Bobby Witt Jr., who went 4-for-5 and hit a walk-off grand slam to beat the Twins in 10 innings on Friday night, again went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBI. Kyle Isbel also had four hits for the Royals.
Minnesota racked up 11 hits as a team, including a nice night for Byron Buxton in his first full game back after missing Monday-Thursday on paternity leave. Buxton had a sharp single in his pinch-hit at-bat Friday night and he went 3-for-3 with three doubles on Saturday night.
Max Kepler went 2-for-4 with a double and his 15th homer of the season.
Cleveland lost to the White Sox so despite four straight losses the Twins (54-52) still lead the AL Central by 1.5 games over the Guardians (52-53).
Up next: Twins at Royals, 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
