Danny Duffy held the Minnesota Twins to one run over seven innings and Matt Shoemaker had a rough outing as the Kansas City Royals evened a three-game series with the Twins at Target Field on Saturday.
The Royals had no problem jumping on Shoemaker in the first inning, getting on the board with an RBI double from Salvador PĂ©rez. After Jorge Soler added a sacrifice fly, PĂ©rez struck again in the third inning with a two-run homer.
Already down 4-0, things unraveled for Shoemaker in the fourth inning. Ryan O’Hearn and Andrew Benintendi both hit home runs and a throwing error by Byron Buxton allowed the Royals to plate five runs in the inning and build a 9-0 lead.
While the Royals were lighting up the scoreboard, Duffy was shutting down the Twins. The left-hander came into the game with a 0.39 ERA in April and continued his dominance on Saturday.
With the Twins held to one hit over the first six innings, Alex Kirilloff finally got the Twins on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.
Stay hot, @AKirilloff19! 🔥@Twins | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/Iokfh8M64B
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) May 1, 2021
Nelson Cruz added a two-run homer in the eighth inning but the Twins faced too big a deficit to mount a comeback. The Twins (9-16) will host the rubber game with the Royals on Sunday afternoon.
