KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt’s tie-breaking sacrifice fly capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning for the Kansas City Royals, helping them knock off the Twins, 3-2, on Thursday afternoon.
The Twins dropped three of four games in their brief road trip to Kauffman Stadium and fell to 4-9 overall to start the season.
Cole Sands couldn’t keep a 2-1 lead after relieving Bailey Ober and striking out the first batter of the seventh. Freddy Fermin was hit by a pitch in the right shoulder and took third base after Drew Waters lined a flat split-finger fastball to right for a single.
Jonathan India worked a 10-pitch at-bat, mostly seeing cut fastballs, until he dropped a bloop single to left to drive in Fermin. Witt followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center, perhaps held up by a stiff 23 mph wind.
It was the first run allowed this season by Sands (1-1) in six appearances.
Ty France hit a solo home run for the second straight day, and Ryan Jeffers added an RBI single for the Twins. Minnesota failed to complete a rally in the ninth against closer Carlos Estévez, who allowed two batters aboard with one out before Matt Wallner struck out and Willi Castro grounded out.
Kansas City nicked Ober for a run in the first, hitting three straight singles, with Salvador Perez knocking in Witt to give the Royals the lead. Ober retired Cavan Biggio and struck out Maikel Garcia to limit the damage.
Ober pitched out of another pickle in the sixth after third baseman José Miranda booted a grounder for an error against Witt. With two outs, Witt stole second base and Biggio drew a walk.
Ober’s last pitch, his 73rd, resulted in a fly to deep center, caught by Harrison Bader for the third out. Ober let out a scream and pumped his fist. He’s had a tough start to the season, suffering from stomach flu-like symptoms the first week of the season. He lost eight pounds as a result, along with some stamina, but against the Royals dropped his ERA from 12.15 to 7.11.
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