Twins bullpen falters again, fuels loss to Royals
The Minnesota Twins' bullpen let them down again on Tuesday night, falling victim to a pair of solo home runs in a 4-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
The Twins got off to a strong start behind Chris Archer's performance on the mound. Making his second start for Minnesota, Archer looked strong, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out five batters over 4.1 innings.
The offense backed Archer when it put up two runs in the fourth inning. An RBI single by Gio Urshella put Minnesota on the board and Gary Sanchez delivered an RBI double to put the Twins up 2-0.
Salvador Perez chipped into the lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. But Carlos Correa gave the Twins a 3-1 lead with an RBI single in the fifth.
Archer ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth, walking in a run to make it a 3-2 game and forcing the Twins to go to their bullpen. Joe Smith got out of the fifth inning with a double play but the Royals took control of the game when Tyler Duffey came out for the sixth.
Perez and Hunter Dozier hit solo homers of the right-hander to put Kansas City in front 4-3. Although the Twins got the leadoff man on in the top of the ninth, Josh Staumont got Correa to ground out to close the game out.
The Twins (4-7) will look to even the series when they send Chris Paddack (0-1, 6.75 ERA) to the mound against Daniel Lynch (0-1, 10.80 ERA) on Wednesday night.
