The Kansas City Royals completed a three-game sweep of the Twins Wednesday night at Target Field, beating the Twins 7-2.
The sweep has taken the Royals, who trailed the Twins by one game in the American League Central Division, into sole possession of first place by two full games.
Kansas City set the tone early, as they scored four runs off Twins starter Kyle Gibson (4-4) in the first inning – highlighted by a three-run homer from Royals outfielder Alex Gordon.
The Twins got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third as Trevor Plouffe drove in Aaron Hicks to get the Twins on the scoreboard at 4-1.
After the Royals pushed the lead to 7-1 in the top of the seventh, it was Plouffe who struck again. He hit a solo home run to left in the eighth for Minnesota’s only other run.
It was a good sign for Plouffe, who appears to be coming out of a massive slump. He finished 2-for-4 with the home run and two RBIs. But the rest of his teammates continued to struggle against Kansas City pitching.
Edinson Volquez (5-4) held Minnesota to one run on six hits in seven innings. Volquez walked three and struck out six on the night.
The biggest drama for the Twins occurred in the eighth inning. After Torii Hunter was called out on a fast ball that he felt was outside, Hunter began arguing with the home plate umpire. Hunter was tossed out, as was Twins manager Paul Molitor who came out to the assistance of his right fielder.
Hunter then showed his displeasure by tossing his batting gloves, shin protector and jersey onto the field.
Torii Hunter was ejected and got his money's worth with a SFW strip tease tossing equipment on the field pic.twitter.com/1BQuE7WZg2
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) June 11, 2015
It was July 18, 2002. Danys Baez hit Hunter. Hunter picked up the ball and fired it back. Tonight, he just did the strip-club routine.
— Jim Souhan (@SouhanStrib) June 11, 2015
The Twins are off Thursday. They open a series in Texas on Friday night with Tommy Milone on the mound.
