Errors, walks, hit batsmen and miscues plagued the Twins once again during their home opener as they fell to the Kansas City Royals 12-3 Monday afternoon at Target Field.
The victory allowed Kansas City to remain unbeaten on the season at 7-0.
The Royals broke the game open with a six-run eighth inning, mostly created by Twins miscues. Twins pitchers hit two Royals batters and walked three more; and a costly fielding error all contributed to the downfall.
The American League Champion Royals took advantage of the miscues and turned a 5-3 game into an 11-3 laugher.
To recap: Takes 3 games to score a single run, outscored by 29 so far, 2 starting pitchers on the shelf, 1-6 start, terrible D… Panic yet?
— David McCoy (@mccoympls) April 13, 2015
That was more than enough run support for Kansas City starter Danny Duffy, who gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings. Duffy struck out three, but did give up a home run to Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe.
Plouffe finished 1-for-4 on the afternoon. Brian Dozier was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of runs scored to lead the Twins and Kennys Vargas was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The loss was disappointing for the Twins, who established a festive atmosphere for the home opener.
Torii Hunter on today's peformance: " … We didn’t play Twins baseball. I don’t know what we played. Bad News Bears baseball."
— Judd Zulgad (@jzulgad) April 13, 2015
The ceremony included a nice introduction for Torii Hunter and was highlighted by appearances from Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett and Apple Valley native Tyus Jones, who just won a national championship with Duke. Garnett and Jones threw out the first pitch prior to the game.
The Twins (1-6) are off on Tuesday, but will send Kyle Gibson to the mound on Wednesday to face Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez.
