Finally! Some firsts help Royals end 9-game losing streak with home win vs. Twins
A change of scenery served the Kansas City Royals well.
After nine straight losses on a 10-game road trip, the Royals returned to Kauffman Stadium and beat the Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Friday night before a season-best crowd of 31,824.
Salvy Splashes for everyone.
“My first Salvy Splash,” said Hanser Alberto, whose two-run homer in the third inning put the Royals ahead to stay. “I feel like he welcomed me to the Royals.”
Home runs by Alberto and Salvador Perez along with a bullpen conga line of five relievers finished what Brady Singer started.
It was all enough to erase the bad taste of the past of the losing skid that had dropped the Royals into last place in the AL Central, a position they traded with the Twins with the outcome.
“Nothing like coming home after you’ve been on a bad run,” Royals manager MIke Matheny said. “You go through a bad streak like we’ve been, any win’s a good win.”
Alberto’s third-inning home run was the difference. He came to the Royals this year as a left-handed pitcher’s nightmare — he entered this season with baseball’s best average against lefties since 2019 (.394) — but he hadn’t lived up to the reputation with a .230 average this season.
The fortune turned against Twins starter J.A. Happ.
Alberto slashed a double in the Royals’ three-run second inning, and his two-run homer into the left-field bullpen an inning later gave the Royals a 5-3 lead. It was Alberto’s first home run as a Royal and it scored Perez, who had singled with two outs.
“I hit it pretty good, but I didn’t know it was going to be a home run because this ballpark is pretty big,” Alberto said. “But I saw the ball carry and carry and I said, ‘It’s got a chance.’”
Perez, named to the Home Run Derby lineup at the All-Star game later this month, took the short route to his 20th home run. Leading off the second, he ran the count to 3-2 before knocking Happ’s fastball on the outside corner into the right-field seats.
Not the seats above the bullpen, but the ones around the foul pole. The homer was measured at 369 feet. No matter, it started a rally. Hanser followed with a double, Hunter Dozier singled and Michael A. Taylor doubled to make it 3-3.
Singer lasted three innings, with the Twins striking for three in the first, but he struck out Max Kepler with the bases loaded to end the third.
“Him pitching out of that mess with the bases loaded was the game-turner for me,” Matheny said.
The bullpen allowed one run over six innings, and Richard Lovelady recorded his first career victory, although he wasn’t sure he was in line for the decision. He left the game after two scoreless innings and worked out as relievers do after an appearance.
“As soon as I came back everyone was congratulating me,” said Lovelady, who made his 28th career appearance since debuting in 2018. “And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is actually my first win.’”
The Royals reached the halfway point of the season at 34-47 but avoided a 10th straight loss which would have given them two double-digit losing streaks this year. They dropped 11 in a row from May 2-13.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Finally! Some firsts help Royals end 9-game losing streak with home win vs. Twins."