Maikel Garcia and Jonathan India drove in one run apiece, and that was more than enough for the Kansas City Royals as they held on for a 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Garcia’s RBI double was the lone extra-base hit for Kansas City, which evened the series at one victory apiece with the rubber match set for Sunday afternoon. Kyle Isbel finished 2-for-4 and scored a run.
Ryan Jeffers went 3-for-4 to lead Minnesota, which totaled eight hits, all singles. Austin Martin tallied a pair of singles from the leadoff spot.
Royals left-hander Noah Cameron (6-5) tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the victory. He scattered six hits, walked two and struck out four.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (4-7) allowed one run on four hits in six innings. He walked one and fanned four.
Kansas City’s bullpen combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the shutout. Left-hander Angel Zerpa notched one out to finish the sixth inning, right-hander Hunter Harvey fired a scoreless seventh and righty Lucas Erceg set the Twins down 1-2-3 in the eighth.
Royals closer Carlos Estevez finished off the Twins in the ninth to collect his 29th save. He needed 16 pitches to complete the inning but did not allow a baserunner as he struck out Mickey Gasper, got Alan Roden to pop out and ended the game by striking out Martin.
Kansas City grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third. Isbel hit a two-out single to left field and came around to score on Garcia’s double to right.
A one-run game persisted until the ninth, when the Royals added one more run. Adam Frazier hit a one-out single to left, advanced to second on when Mike Yastrzemski drew a walk and scored moments later on India’s single to left.
The Twins had a runner on third base three times but could not push across a run.
Royce Lewis struck out swinging with a runner on third to end the first inning. Lewis had another chance in the third with runners on first and third with one out, but he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
In the fifth, Lewis hit a flyout to left with runners on first and third and two outs.
–Field Level Media
