Make It Official! Twins 8, Royals 3: Willi Castro, Royce Lewis Homer in Six-Run Inning as Twins Take Game 1 from Royals

[Nate Palmer]

The Minnesota Twins bats, sparked by Willi Castro and Royce Lewis home runs, led the Twins to an important series-opening win against fellow wild-card contender Kansas City Royals. 

Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Pablo Lopez: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (96 pitches, 71 strikes (73.9%)
Home Runs: Willi Castro (9), Royce Lewis (15) 
Top 3 WPA: Willi Castro (0.251), Royce Lewis (0.156), Austin Martin (0.088)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

Coming off of a series split with the team the Minnesota Twins are chasing in the standings, the Twins open up a series with a team chasing them in the Kansas City Royals. Pablo Lopez needs to show up as the rotation leader and stop the two-game losing streak. The lineup will also need to show up and find a way to get some hits off of Brady Singer, enjoying a good pitching stretch. 

Bobby Witt Jr. – still annoying
More honestly, Bobby Witt Jr. is really good at baseball. He has quickly joined the prominent list of annoyingly good players that have played for Kansas City. Witt gave Lopez first-hand experience as to why pitchers do not want to fall behind in the count to him. Behind 1-0, Lopez tried to throw a sweeper by Witt. Instead Witt deposited it in the left field bleachers for his 23rd home run and a Royals 1-0 lead. 

The second inning didn’t stall out the Royals offense. 
With two outs, the Royals had runners on first and second and Kyle Isbel at the plate. The Royals are all the league leaders in average with runners in scoring position so it was no surprise when Isbel lined a single to bring Frazier home to increase the lead to 2-0. 

2nd Inning wake-up call
The Twins bats seemed to have been asleep after leaving the bases loaded Sunday to end the game and striking out three times to begin Monday’s game. The second inning must have been what the lineup needed. Singer got the Twins to two outs, but with their backs against the wall, the Minnesota bats got going. 

Carlos Santana walked, Ryan Jeffers singled, and Austin Martin drove in Santana with his own single to shorten the lead to 2-1. Willi Castro wasn’t ready for the Twins to take the field and extended the inning by smashing his ninth home run to give the Twins a 4-2 lead. 

Trevor Larnach came to bat with empty bases and sent a single just to the right of the second base bag. Then the Twins own annoyingly good player, Royce Lewis, came to the plate. He missed what looked to be the pitch to hit at one point in the at-bat but then got another one that he launched off the second deck facing for his 15th home run and a 6-2 Twins lead. 

Pablo battles through
As has been a bit more the norm than the Twins would like, Lopez didn’t have his best stuff Monday but worked with what he did have to give the Twins a chance. What may have been the most impressive stretch on the night for Pablo was the way he responded to the Twins, giving him the 6-2 lead. He responded with two innings in a row, sending down the Royals lineup 1-2-3. 

The performance put Lopez in line for a milestone Monday night as he reached 50 career wins. Congratulations Pablo Lopez! 

Fireman Griffin Jax 
As Pablo exited, Griffin Jax was turned to in the seventh as the Royals 9,1,2 batters were due up. That second spot in the Royals lineup is occupied by none other than Witt. Showing off how good Jax has been this season as Rocco Baldelli turns to him against a crucial stretch of the Royals lineup. Jax would surrender a single to Isbel but then record an out with the next three batters, including forcing Witt into a fielder’s choice groundout. 

Bats pour on
The Twins bats made sure to give the Twins bullpen as comfortable of a lead as they could. In the seventh inning, the game quickly turned from a save situation to not as Larnach and Lewis reached ahead of Matt Wallner. Wallner would single to score Larnach and allow Lewis to advance to third. Manuel Margot, who entered the game for Byron Buxton who was dealing with hip discomfort, hit a sacrifice fly to bring Lewis home for a Twins 8-3 lead. 

Blewett makes Twins debut
Against his former team, Scott Blewett made his Twins debut in the ninth inning Monday evening. Blewett struck out Isbel, who had made plenty of noise throughout the game. He also ended the game by retiring three Royals batters in a row. 

What’s Next?
On Tuesday, the Twins will face off against Royals All-Star Seth Lugo. The Royals right-handed starter is having a career year, leading the league in innings pitched with a 2.72 ERA. Twins fans will have the opportunity to take in the much-anticipated start of another rookie pitcher, Zebby Matthews. 

Postgame Interviews

 

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Thielbar	0	20	0	32	0	52
Dobnak	0	0	0	51	0	51
Richards	0	9	0	0	25	34
Alcalá	0	16	0	15	0	31
Winder	0	0	29	0	0	29
Sands	0	18	0	9	0	27
Jax	0	12	0	0	12	24
Blewett	0	0	0	0	15	15
Durán	0	14	0	0	0	14

View full article

[USAFChief]

Way to hang tough, Pablo. 

 

[BH67]

That was an impressive 2nd inning tonight against a solid pitcher in Brady Singer. Willi Castro appears to be heating up at the plate. Jax, Richards and Blewett provided solid relief to secure the win after Pablo recovered well from a shaky start.

When a Twin slumps or suffers an injury, another Twin steps up. Encouraging as always but especially so after two tough losses to Cleveland. Wishing Zebby much success tomorrow.

White Sox 11, Yankees 2 in the 8th as I type this.

[GNess]

Nice bounce back win after two tough losses to Cleveland. Hope Buxton is ok?

[Aggies7]

7 minutes ago, GNess said:

Nice bounce back win after two tough losses to Cleveland. Hope Buxton is ok?

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen as many guys walk straight off the field and into the clubhouse as I’ve seen this year. Kind of jarring, that used to be reserved for blown out arms or something. Now it’s for hip discomfort 😂

[ashbury]

Thank you Offense! You have taken a lot of pressure off of Zebby tomorrow. (Not to mention yourselves. That doesn't mean to let up though.)

[darwin22]

Any postgame update on Buxton? 

Didn't see the game as I cannot (and will not) listen to the annoying, Rex Hudler as I'm forced into watching the Royals feed as I live in the KC area.

Very good bounce back victory after the bats hibernated mostly the last 2 days.  Crucial for the offense to pick up the pitching staff as we move toward the end of the season.  

Lopez appeared to regroup after allowing 2 early runs to get through 6 IP.  Absolutely a MUST he be the leader for this staff the rest of the season.

Having seen Zebby Matthews pitch just a month ago in Springfield, I was a little surprised to see him get promoted to start tomorrow night.  I'm hoping he is aggressive and can command the strike zone.  He WILL throw strikes as evidenced by his numbers all season.  Hopefully, he can give us at least 4 strong innings tomorrow night and then patch things together with bullpen.

[TheLeviathan]

We'd have won this game if Rocco had subbed in 40 million of his own personal cash for our payroll.

Cheap bastard.

[Doctor Gast]

A good comeback win. Go Twins!

[bighat]

Royce Lewis is just so good. 

Imagine a full season of this guy. 

[Doctor Wu]

Good win. Pablo gave us just enough and some of the new guys in the bullpen did their job too. Hoping for a good Zebby debut outing tomorrow!

[Doctor Wu]

13 minutes ago, bighat said:

Imagine a full season of this guy. 

A full healthy season from Royce will be wonderful. Let us keep hoping! He can be a true difference maker for this team.

[CRF]

Saw a report this morning that said Buxton left the game with "right hip discomfort" Doesn't sound real good to me. He's had these pop up before and missed a lot of time. 

[Blyleven2011]

Royce Lewis is clutch  ...

Get runners on base and Lewis will drive them in  , always a difference maker ...

Pablo re-set after 2nd inning  , bullpen  did a good job ...            defense was good and showed it athleticism  ...

No solo homeruns , batters get a bloop or walk and then a blast , need more of these kind of Homer's  ...

Willi castro got it going ,  he is having a nice season after a slow start ...

[Whitey333]

Nice game.  Way to come back Lopez after a slow start.  Joyce play a full season?  I doubt we will ever see that.  Another Buxton but a better player if like Buxton he plays

[mikelink45]

If Buxton is going to be out I want Keirsey to come up and give us a real CF

[Old Crow]

23 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

If Buxton is going to be out I want Keirsey to come up and give us a real CF

Amen to that.

[JD-TWINS]

9 hours ago, darwin22 said:

Any postgame update on Buxton? 

Didn't see the game as I cannot (and will not) listen to the annoying, Rex Hudler as I'm forced into watching the Royals feed as I live in the KC area.

Very good bounce back victory after the bats hibernated mostly the last 2 days.  Crucial for the offense to pick up the pitching staff as we move toward the end of the season.  

Lopez appeared to regroup after allowing 2 early runs to get through 6 IP.  Absolutely a MUST he be the leader for this staff the rest of the season.

Having seen Zebby Matthews pitch just a month ago in Springfield, I was a little surprised to see him get promoted to start tomorrow night.  I'm hoping he is aggressive and can command the strike zone.  He WILL throw strikes as evidenced by his numbers all season.  Hopefully, he can give us at least 4 strong innings tomorrow night and then patch things together with bullpen.

Volume down on Rex? Missed a good one.

[JD-TWINS]

33 minutes ago, mikelink45 said:

If Buxton is going to be out I want Keirsey to come up and give us a real CF

That was my first thought! ……just doesn’t seem to be any other practical depth option. Even if they do this, I doubt they’d start him. Would like to give him a shot! Probably another 40-man complexity as well though?

[Doctor Gast]

Watched the CWS/ NYY game. CWS went the other way a lot & played good small ball with new interim manager's win over Yanks. I enjoyed that game as much as ours.

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, CRF said:

Saw a report this morning that said Buxton left the game with "right hip discomfort" Doesn't sound real good to me. He's had these pop up before and missed a lot of time. 

Rocco said all the right things after the game to downplay this ……..didn’t appear to be a minor discomfort as he walked off and went straight down the tunnel. Needs to have an MRI by 1:00 today to see what’s up!

[JD-TWINS]

K.C. isn’t electric offensively but they are right behind the Twins in Runs Scored…..decent line-up. The Pen did a great job Monday night!

Looks like Winder - Alcala - Duran are most likely today …….,hope Zebby can stay away from the long ball and keep things competitive. 

Ryan Jeffers looked great in the 2nd, 0-2 with his shortened, choked up approach……,and then……brutal after that AB. Really hope he can get things going……seems to have potential to be a lot more at the plate but can’t find much consistency.

[Doctor Gast]

3 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

That was my first thought! ……just doesn’t seem to be any other practical depth option. Even if they do this, I doubt they’d start him. Would like to give him a shot! Probably another 40-man complexity as well though?

Margot is occupying a valuable roster spot that'd deny Keirsey a deserved opportunity to shine & Twins a much needed LHH bat.

[Karbo]

18 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

K.C. isn’t electric offensively but they are right behind the Twins in Runs Scored…..decent line-up. The Pen did a great job Monday night!

Looks like Winder - Alcala - Duran are most likely today …….,hope Zebby can stay away from the long ball and keep things competitive. 

Ryan Jeffers looked great in the 2nd, 0-2 with his shortened, choked up approach……,and then……brutal after that AB. Really hope he can get things going……seems to have potential to be a lot more at the plate but can’t find much consistency.

KC is best in the league when it comes to hitting with runners in scoring position.

[Karbo]

And I had such high hopes we'd see over 100 games for Buxton.

[David Maro]

There needs to be some concern about Lopez,still having blow up innings.It took 33 pitches to get out of the 2nd.Going into the 3rd he was at 47 pitches.The bats aren't going to give him 6 on the board every time he slips.Him and Ober are now the 2 veterans left as starters.Ober is doing his part,it is time for Lopez to step up.

Singer is a bottom third of the zone pitcher,so the hitters figured him out the second time at bat.

Logo is going to be lot harder to get and Matthews is going to need all the help they can give him.

[LambchoP]

Buxton is likely going on the IL for a few weeks. Wouldn't be surprised to hear the same about Miranda. Once again, all our stars are hurt. Why can we NEVER get a lineup with Correa, Buxton, Lewis and Miranda in it together. If they could all just stay healthy that's a formidable lineup. I wish we'd call up Keirsey as a true center fielders to replace Buxton. He's not on the 40 man though, so I'm guessing we're going to see Margot and Austin Martin:( too bad Emmanuel Rodriguez has been hurt all this time

[Craig Arko]

31 minutes ago, Karbo said:

And I had such high hopes we'd see over 100 games for Buxton.

I wouldn’t give up quite yet.

[jmlease1]

An excellent win. I love beating KC and they're certainly not going away this year. freakin' Bobby Witt Jr is a beast. Isbel has been meh offensively...but not against the twins! (If it makes anyone feel better, he's beaten up on St. L, AZ, Cle, NYY as well)

Singer is having an excellent season and just laid waste to Chicago over his last 3 starts, so it was great to hammer him and give Pablo a solid lead to work with. I was a little nervous after he gave up runs in each of the first two innings.

Lewis and Wallner are carrying the offense right now. Hopefully they can keep it up while other guys get healthy and/or fight their way out of slumps. (encouraging signs from Kepler with 2 hits last night?)

Starting the series with a win is great. Lot easier to win the series that way!

[LA Vikes Fan]

11 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

We'd have won this game if Rocco had subbed in 40 million of his own personal cash for our payroll.

Cheap bastard.

Couldn't agree more. Time to fire Rocco and hire a billionaire. Is either Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos available?