Luke Hochevar quickly settled into one of his weird patterns. For the first four innings he got the first two batters no sweat, but then he’d falter before recording the third out. For the most part it was more of an annoyance than an actual problem, except in the second when the third batter – Darin Mastroianni – smacked one over the fence.
In the fourth through seventh Hochevar finally settled down and pitched a good game, getting all nine batters. He even did an impressive job of fielding a hard liner from the inestimable Trevor Plouffe.
Unfortunately, the Royals weren’t having much success against Nick Blackburn, who’s been struggling this season but seemed to be on top of his game tonight. At the seventh inning stretch the Twins’ homer in the second was the only run scored by either team.
Then came the double that tied the game yet proved to be our undoing. Yuniesky Betancourt doubled, scoring Eric Hosmer from first. That was great because it gave us both “at least it wasn’t a shutout” and “at least we were tied at one point” on the Dang Scale.
On the other hand, it forced a shift on defense. Hochevar had been throwing a reasonably good game, but he was at 109 pitches by the end of the seventh. Though he might have stayed in when trailing by one, the tie prompted Ned Yost to go to the bullpen.
Though that’s been the kiss of death on many occasions, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland actually did okay. They supplied a few “exciting” moments but prevented Minnesota from scoring. Oddly, it was the Iron Man himself who blew it in the 11th. Joe Mauer hit a lead-off double to the great enjoyment of the fans in the stands who seemed to mostly be Minnesota fans at that point. Then Josh Willingham singled, which was enough to score Mauer.
The bad part was that Mauer crossed the plate without a throw from right field. Jeff Francoeur was in close enough and appeared to have plenty of time to at least attempt to gun down the runner. But no, even though the go-ahead run ultimately cost us the game.
That alone would have been enough to make Frenchy a fair candidate for Goat of the Game. But he also had a flubbed ball in the corner that allowed Mastroianni to stretch a double into a triple in the tenth. Way back in the third he tried to catch Mauer lollygagging it to first on a single, but that bit of aggressive play didn’t really make up for the costly bungling in the extra innings.
We nearly made a comeback in the bottom of the 11th. Alcides Escobar led off with another double, giving Billy Butler the chance to hit another walk-off blast. But of course that was too much to hope for. He sacrificed Escobar to third, but then Mike Moustakas grounded into a fielder’s choice that got the runner at the plate. Another ground out and it was over.
Overall it wasn’t a terrible game. Moustakas made a couple of noteworthy plays. Escobar stretched a single into a double with a little aggressive base-running. Even Betancourt made a good play in the fifth that partially offset more Betancourty fielding in the first. It’s just so frustrating to keep losing to one of the few teams in the majors that should be worse than we are.
The box score:
TWINS (2) AT ROYALS (1)
TWINS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI
Ben Revere 5 0 1 0 Alex Gordon 5 0 0 0
Jamey Carroll 5 0 0 0 Alcides Escobar 5 0 3 0
Joe Mauer 4 1 3 0 Billy Butler 5 0 0 0
Josh Willingham 5 0 2 1 Mike Moustakas 5 0 1 0
Justin Morneau 5 0 0 0 Lorenzo Cain 4 0 1 0
Trevor Plouffe 3 0 0 0 Jarrod Dyson 1 0 0 0
Brian Dozier 2 0 0 0 Eric Hosmer 4 1 1 0
Ryan Doumit 4 0 1 0 Jeff Francoeur 4 0 1 0
Darin Mastroianni 4 1 2 1 Salvador Perez 4 0 1 0
Alexi Casilla 4 0 0 0 Yuniesky Betancourt 3 0 1 1
Chris Getz 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 41 2 9 2 TOTALS 41 1 9 1
TWINS 010 000 000 01 -- 2
ROYALS 000 000 100 00 -- 1
LOB--TWINS 7, ROYALS 7. 2B--Joe Mauer, Ryan Doumit, Yuniesky
Betancourt, Alcides Escobar (2). 3B--Darin Mastroianni.
HR--Darin Mastroianni. SB--Ben Revere.
TWINS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Nick Blackburn 6 2-3 7 1 1 0 2 0
Tyler Robertson 0 1-3 0 0 0 0 1 0
Jared Burton 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Casey Fien 2 0 0 0 0 2 0
Glen Perkins 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
ROYALS
Luke Hochevar 7 5 1 1 0 6 1
Kelvin Herrera 1 1 0 0 1 1 0
Greg Holland 2 1 0 0 0 4 0
Jonathan Broxton 1 2 1 1 0 1 0
SO--Jamey Carroll (2), Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Alexi
Casilla, Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere, Darin
Mastroianni (2), Brian Dozier (2), Yuniesky Betancourt, Alex
Gordon (2), Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer. BB--Joe Mauer.
NOTES: Dollar Dogs and Fireworks Friday
LOCATION: Kauffman Stadium
CONDITION: Dry
WEATHER: Hot, Clear
Buck seat: W-- (JCCC guidance counselor)
Guard: USN
Anthem: Country-fied
Umpires
H: Reyburn
1: Kellogg
2: Cooper
3: Foster
Time: 7:09
Temp: 93
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