KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli really wanted to give Byron Buxton a rest, a day after the center fielder bruised his ribs when he crashed into the wall chasing down Adalberto Mondesi’s inside-the-park home run.
But then the perfect situation arose to insert the speedster Wednesday, and Baldelli made the move. After Nelson Cruz drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, Buxton entered as a pinch-runner.
On the next pitch, Buxton swiped second, his 30th straight successful steal.
Eddie Rosario followed with a single and Buxton scored the go-ahead run as the Minnesota Twins used a late rally for the second straight day, beating the Kansas City Royals 7-6.
“That’s the only thing he was going to be used for today, regardless of what else happened in the game,” Baldelli said. “He did not waver one bit. He said he was feeling good and he went out there and changed the game again. That’s the kind of stuff that he can do.”
Max Kepler hit a tying, two-run single with two outs in the Twins eighth.
Willians Astudillo and Mitch Garver each had three hits and scored twice for Minnesota.
Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 25 games, tied with George Brett and Mike Sweeney for third longest by a Royals player. Alex Gordon homered and drove in four runs for Kansas City.
Mondesi kept up his fast start for the Royals with two more hits, including his third triple of the season. The 23-year-old shortstop also flashed the leather in the field, laying out for a catch in shallow left to leave the bases loaded in the sixth and then starting an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the seventh.
Trevor May (1-0) threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win and Blake Parker picked up his second save in as many days.
The game drew an announced crowd of 10,575. A day earlier, the Twins scored the tying run in the ninth and won 5-4 in the 10th on an RBI single by Cruz — that game drew 10,024, the lowest at Kauffman Stadium in eight years.
Despite surrendering a run in the first, Twins starter Kyle Gibson cruised through 4 2/3 innings. But after retiring the first two hitters in the fifth, the next seven batters reached base – one on an error — and he left with the Royals leading 6-3. Albert Mejia threw 2 1/3 innings to keep the Twins in the game.
“I mean, Mejia did a great job. He came in and gave the offense the break they needed right then and put up a couple zeros and gave our guys a chance to fight back,” Gibson said. “We got a lot of quality arms done there and the ability to put up zeros quick and give the team a chance to get one run at a time.”
Three Twins relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings. The Kansas City bullpen faltered, giving up four runs and six hits over four innings.
“Whenever you’re at home and get a come-from-behind loss like that, it’s always frustrating,” Gordon said. “It’s early. We have to keep running them out there and giving them chances. Hopefully it turns around.”
Homer Bailey, who was 1-14 with a 6.09 ERA last year with Cincinnati, was solid in his Kansas City debut. He threw five innings, allowing five hits and three runs and striking out eight. But for the second consecutive day, the Royals bullpen couldn’t shut down the Twins.
“He spotted his fastball well. He had a good split, a good breaking ball. He made a couple of mistakes. But all in all, I thought it was a good first outing for him,” manager Ned Yost said.
The Chapman Irish boys and girls track teams both finished third in the Marion Invitational on Friday.
