The Kansas City Royals used a five-run seventh inning to take the series opener from the Minnesota Twins by a score of 8-3 on Friday night.
Randy Dobnak started the game for the Twins and held the Royals scoreless through the first four innings. With Kansas City off the scoreboard, Mitch Garver helped the Twins take the lead with his eighth home run of the season in the fourth inning.
No doubter. 😤@MitchGarver | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/X4dFMZiDuW
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) May 29, 2021
The Royals responded in the fifth inning by putting up three runs against Dobnak. Michael A. Taylor put the Royals on the board with an RBI double. Whit Merrifield and Carlos Santana followed up with RBI singles to give Kansas City a 3-1 lead.
The big blow came in the seventh inning when the Royals loaded the bases against Dobnak before he was relieved by Cody Stashak. With the right-hander on the mound, the Royals struck for five runs including a Merrifield double that plated two runs to give Kansas City an 8-1 lead.
Although the Twins scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, the hole was too big for Minnesota to take the series opener.
The Twins (20-29) will host the second game of their series with the Royals at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday.
