KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Taj Bradley pitched six innings of five-hit ball, Minnesota homered thrice in the ninth inning to break open a close recreation, and the Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Thursday to keep away from a three-game sequence sweep.
Bradley (1-0) struck out three and walked one while out-dueling Cole Ragans (0-2), serving to the Twins improve to 2-0 with him on the mound. Minnesota was winless in its other 4 video games on a season-opening six-game journey through Baltimore and Kansas City.
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Kody Clemens scored on an error by five-time Gold Glove-winning catcher Salvador Perez in the second, and Byron Buxton added a sacrifice fly off John Schreiber in the eighth, before the Twins teed off against Royals reliever Steven Cruz in the ninth.
Matt Wallner started the barrage with his homer to left, Clemens adopted two batters late with his first of the season, and Josh Bell gave the Twins their first back-to-back homers since last July with his shot off Cruz to proper area.
The only offense for Kansas City came in the eighth, when Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. put runners on the corners with back-to-back singles, and Vinnie Pasquantino hit a sacrifice fly. But after Perez grounded into a fielder’s selection, Twins reliever Taylor Rogers struck out Jac Caglianone with a sweeper out of the zone to depart the tying run on second base.
The meager offense came one a day after the Royals piled up 13 runs in a win over the Twins.
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Ragans bounced back properly from a dismal opening day in Atlanta, when the 2024 All-Star surrendered three homers in a 6-0 loss to the Braves. The Royals’ left-hander went six innings and allowed 4 hits and a stroll while putting out eight.
Up next
The Twins play their home opener Friday night time against Tampa Bay with RHP Bailey Ober (0-0, 6.75 ERA) on the mound. Kansas City continues its homestand against Milwaukee with RHP Michael Wacha (0-0, 0.00) getting the begin.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
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