Today the Royals took on the Twins in game two of the series, coming off a big win and game one hoping to get themselves above .500 for the first time this season. Royals ACE Cole Ragans took the mound for the Royals in Kauffman to face Pablo Lopez and the Twins.
Ragans got off to a hot start with seven strikeouts in the first three innings and earned himself a quality start, only allowing one run through six innings and finished with 11 Ks/0BBs. Pablo Lopez also looked very clean in his start before exiting with what seemed to be a hamstring issue.
Both starters handed the game to the bullpen having given up one run. Both teams came close to breaking the tie, with the Royals leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and Schreiber forced the Twins to ground into a double play to end the inning with runners on the corners in the eighth.
Errors continued to kill the Twins and they logged three of them, and both of the Royals runs counted as unearned. In the top of the eighth, a bad throw allowed Bobby Witt Jr to go from first to third and Vinnie was able to drive him in with a grounder.
The Twins run came off a tough play for Mark Cahna in the outfield, but outside of that the Royals fielding continued to be solid and helped them get the win. The Royals bullpen was also able to come through down the stretch with Schreiber getting five outs in the eighth and ninth, and Daniel Lynch IV came in and got the one out save to end the game.
The good news for the Royals came in the pitching and fielding, where they were incredible today from start to finish. The struggles with the bats continued, but was somewhat expected facing the Twins best pitcher. The Royals ability to step up and win the game despite the bats being dead was a good sign for the team, and Ragans being able to dominate in the fashion he did last year is exactly what they needed.
The Royals were able to get a key win against a division rival and at worst will tie the first Twins series of the season. They will be back tomorrow at the same time to take the series.
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