Brooks Lee delivered a go-ahead, two-run single as the Minnesota Twins scored three times in the eighth inning and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 4-3 road victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.
Minnesota trailed 3-1 in the eighth, when Luke Keaschall recorded a one-out single against Aaron Bummer (0-1), who then walked Ryan Jeffers and allowed an RBI single to Josh Bell that made it 3-2.
Kansas City’s Nate Pearson came on and hit Royce Lewis to load bases. Lee followed with a single to right field that scored a pair and gave the Twins their first lead of the game.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober allowed three runs and six hits over six innings and didn’t walk nor strike out a batter. Kody Funderburk (3-1), Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gomez (15th save) — who picked off pinch runner Tyler Tolbert at first base in the ninth — combined to allow one hit and strike out four.
The Twins avoided being swept in this three-game set despite totaling seven hits and stranding 10 runners on Thursday.
Bobby Witt Jr. had three hits and scored twice for the Royals, who had won five straight at home. Kansas City starter Michael Wacha walked three but yielded only a Lewis homer and two other hits hit over 5 2/3 innings.
After the Twins stranded a runner on third in the top of the third, the Royals didn’t miss their scoring chance in the bottom of the same frame. With two outs, Ober allowed back-to-back singles to Carter Jensen and Witt, who both scored on Jac Caglianone’s single to right field.
Lewis extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games when he cleared the left-field fence to open the fifth to get Minnesota on the scoreboard. Later in the inning, Wacha loaded the bases with two outs but got Keaschall on a flyout to center field.
Kansas City got that run back in the sixth. Witt doubled to open the inning, went to third on Caglianone’s groundout to second base and scored on Michael Massey’s single to left past a drawn-in infield for a 3-1 advantage.
