Three Things to Take Away from the Royals' 5-4 Loss to the Twins
The Kansas City Royals' five-game winning streak came to an end this afternoon but it wasn't without drama as the Royals fell 5-4 to the Minnesota Twins.
Minnesota snaps their four-game losing streak and moves to (22-35) on the year while the loss drops Kansas City to (29-27)
Here are three takeaways from this afternoon's contest.
Mike Minor is giving up too many home runs.
The last time Mike Minor pitched, I believe I said "Minor isn't going to be in the conversation for the American League Cy Young," and was I right about that. Minor is going to give up runs. He's not going to give you nine scoreless innings or really five scoreless. While the Royals offense is usually able to mask this, today Minor gave up too many long balls. With three home runs allowed today, Minor leads the team in home runs allowed with 11. While his ability to eat innings is good, especially during this long stretch of games, but he's going to need to keep the ball down to keep Kansas City in the game.
Andrew Benintendi is HOT.
Boy, what can't Andrew Benintendi do? With a triple and a home run in this afternoon's game, Benintendi continues the hot streak he's been on. Heading into the contest today, the 26-year-old was slashing .350/.364/.550 with a double, a home run, 10 RBIs and an OPS of .914 in the last seven days. Benintendi has put up some solid numbers in this homestand as well. The left fielder has gone 6-for-17 with two home runs and 10 RBIs. The acquisition of Benintendi has certainly been a good one.
Jake Brentz has been impressive.
Since May 18, Jake Brentz has been absolutely stellar in relief for Kansas City. Including today's game, Brentz has appeared in eight games where he's allowed no runs on one hit and collected 10 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings pitched. His ERA is down to 2.06 after today's appearance. He's become one of the more reliable relievers Royals manager Mike Matheny has been able to turn to.
