Royals sweep Twins, extend win streak to four games as Brady Singer gets first MLB win
Heading into their weekend series in Kansas City, the Royals didn’t look like a team on the upswing. And the Minnesota Twins didn’t appear headed in the opposite direction.
Three days later, the Royals have asserted some measure of dominance.
Rookie right-hander Brady Singer fought his way through five innings to earn his first major-league win Sunday afternoon as the Royals completed a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 4-2 victory at Kauffman Stadium
The Royals (7-10) extended their winning streak to four games, a span in which they’ve led at the end of 31 of 36 innings. The Twins (10-6) entered the series with the best record in the American League but have now lost four in a row.
“This is a blast,” Singer said. “Everybody says winning is more fun. Winning is a lot more fun when you’re at this level. This is awesome. Guys are doing an incredible job. You can just see it in every single at-bat and every single inning that these guys pitch.”
The Royals’ relief contingent of Greg Holland (one inning), Josh Staumont (two innings) and Scott Barlow (one inning) combined for four innings of scoreless relief as the bullpen lowered its collective ERA to 3.16.
Infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier went 1 for 4 and drove in two runs in his return to the starting lineup after a bout with COVID-19, and Maikel Franco homered for the fourth time this season. Jorge Soler went 2 for 3 and Whit Merrifield scored two runs.
Singer (1-1) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out four.
His day also included taking a ball hit with an exit velocity of 100 mph off his throwing hand. Singer threw a season-high 95 pitches, a portion of which came with a numb hand.
“I guess I need to pay attention to the shift more,” Singer said after reflexively reaching for a ball that was headed back up the middle.. “Obviously a ball up the middle, you don’t think anybody’s there. But I had two guys with open arms sitting there waiting on it. I’ve been doing that for a long time. I’ve tried to stop, but it happens. My hand is fine, nothing wrong with it.”
Singer became the third Royal to record his first career victory this season, joining Foster Griffin and Tyler Zuber. He’s now pitched five innings and allowed no more than five hits in all four of his starts, making him just the 12th American League pitcher since 1980 to do so.
Dozier’s first-inning two-run single up the middle in his first at-bat of the season — with Merrifield and Soler on second and third, respectively — gave the Royals an early 2-0 advantage.
“I’m trying to keep things simple right now,” Dozier said. “First game back, guys in scoring position. I’m just trying to get the guy from third home. He left a pitch over the middle. I kind of did what I wanted to do, stay right, center, and hit it hard. Luckily no one was there.”
In the top of the third and with one away, Singer stuck out his bare hand in an attempt to knock down a sharply hit bouncer by Byron Buxton. The ball deflected off Singer’s hand toward shortstop Adalberto Mondesi for an infield single.
Royals manager Mike Matheny and head athletic trainer Nick Kenney immediately emerged from the dugout to check on Singer. He showed no ill effects in pair of warm-up pitches, but he threw wildly to first base on a pick-off attempt that allowed Buxton to advance to third. After a walk by Alex Avila, the Twins capitalized with an RBI double from Max Kepler and an RBI groundout by Jorge Polanco to tie the score.
“That could’ve gone really bad, obviously with the injury .... not having a feel for the ball,” Matheny said. “He did a nice job of regaining his composure and kind of pitching through that. He did a great job of getting big outs in the middle of the big part of their order.”
Perez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third scored Merrifield, who’d walked to start the inning, and put the Royals back in front 3-2.
Singer began to tire a bit in the fifth on a humid day at The K. He had two men on when he got Eddie Rosario to line out to left-center field to end the inning.
Franco’s home run, a solo shot down the left-field line, boosted the Royals’ edge to 4-2 in the sixth.
The Royals have a day off Monday before beginning a road series against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday.
“I know everybody has been excited about how we’ve been going about it that last couple days, all the guys in (the clubhouse),” Matheny said. “How they’re fighting through. The energy. The excitement. Every little portion of the game you want to see.
“Then putting more of these guys back into the fold is exactly where they want to be and we want to keep things.”
Lopez claimed
The Baltimore Orioles claimed right-handed pitcher Jorge Lopez off waivers Sunday. The Royals designated Lopez for assignment Friday. As of Sunday afternoon, he’d been assigned to the Orioles’ alternate training site in Bowie, Maryland.
This story was originally published August 9, 2020 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Royals sweep Twins, extend win streak to four games as Brady Singer gets first MLB win."
