Royals 4, Twins 1: Twins Swing and Miss at Chance to Bury Kansas City

Box Score
SP: Louie Varland - 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K ( 98 pitches, 66 strikes (67% Strikes)
Home Runs: Carlos Santana (16)
Bottom 3 WPA: Ryan Jeffers -.099, Willi Castro -.086, Royce Lewis -.091 

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Get Out the Brooms?
Wednesday afternoon presented a chance for the Twins to sweep the Royals and to put some much-needed distance between them and their AL Central foe. Louie Varland got the assignment, potentially his final chance to remain firmly in the starter conversation as the playoff push ramps up. The Royals sent their second All-Star starter in as many days to the mound, in hopes of salvaging a game and a hope, as lefty Cole Ragans looked to rebound from already losing two games to the Twins this season (after surrendering only 4 earned runs over 11 innings in March and May).

Royals Make Things Messy
Varland’s day started with cluttered bases, and the Royals finally broke through with the first run of the game in the top of the second inning, with a dribbling grounder to Varland that allowed Paul DeJong to score from third. While Varland was able to limit the damage in those first two threats, Bobby Witt Jr. showed him why he’s an MVP threat with a leadoff home run in the top of the third inning to make it 2-0 Royals early.

Meanwhile, Ragans was looking very much the All-Star, holding the Twins hitless through their first 11 batters.

Santana Starts a Rally that Never Quite Materializes
Ragans’s 12th batter faced had more success--much more. Carlos Santana went down swinging in his first at-bat, but left the yard in his second to cut the Royal lead in half.

José Miranda followed up with a ringing double to left field, but was stranded there. The bottom of the fifth saw the bottom of the Twins lineup continue to batter Ragans around, ultimately loading the bases with two outs for Grand Slam Hero Royce Lewis. Ragans won the battle, however, inducing a weak grounder from Lewis to end the threat.

Royals Continue to Add to the Pile
The Twins’ inability to capitalize immediately came back to haunt them in the top of the sixth inning, when DeJong continued his perfect day at the plate with a moonshot to left-center to make the score 3-1 Kansas City, and to essentially finish Varland’s day on the mound.

Jhoan Durán came in to pitch the seventh inning, after remaining in the bullpen since Friday afternoon. While the move made sense with the heart of the Royals order coming to the plate, it didn’t pay off, with Durán surrendering another run on a two-out double to Vinnie Pasquantino. The Twins have posted the third-highest bullpen ERA since the All-Star break, and today continued this disturbing trend.

Meanwhile, Ragans seemingly gained energy, movement, and velocity with each insurance run that he was given, mowing down the Twins 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to end his day and hand off a 4-1 lead to the Kansas City bullpen.

Last Chance to Clean Up?
In the top of the eighth, Trevor Richards got the call, and after getting the first two outs innocently enough, the drama began: a walk, a single, and another walk to load the bases. Facing Maikel García with a full count, and Witt Jr. in the on-deck circle, Richards threw ball four...but Garcia took a rip anyway, to go down swinging and prevent the nail from reaching the coffin for the moment.

Would the Twins take advantage of this gift? Manuel Margot and Lewis delivered back-to-back singles against Sam Long in the bottom of the eighth to bring up Santana as the potential tying run. The lone engine of offense for the team today, Santana delivered a deep fly, but to the wrong part of the ballpark, and Kyle Isbel put away out number two at the warning track in center. With Miranda ready to take his cuts at tying the game, the Royals switched to righty Lucas Erceg, and the move paid off with Miranda grounding out weakly to Witt to end yet another Twins threat.

Steven Okert walked Witt to lead off the ninth, but picked him off to clean off the bases yet again and to get the Twins back in the dugout with a chance for one last rally. Erceg wiped away that dream 1-2-3 to save the game and the moment for this pesky Kansas City ballclub.

What’s Next? 
The Twins begin a seven-game road swing in Texas against the stumbling Rangers Thursday evening. This series could be a potential window-shopping opportunity, if Texas looks to shed payroll at the waiver wire after a disappointing season. The Twins send out Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.52 ERA) in hopes that he will continue his dominant ways, while the Rangers have yet to name their starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm CT.

Postgame Interviews

Bullpen Usage Sheet