Twins pitching blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning but the bats came alive in the clutch to give Minnesota a 5-3 victory in 10 innings against the Royals on Saturday.
Minnesota took a 3-0 lead on a trio of solo homers by Miguel Sano, Jake Cave and C.J. Cron, with Cave and Cron hitting their long balls in the eighth inning.
Jose Berrios pitched seven shutout innings but then gave up a single and a walk to start the bottom of the eighth, prompting manager Rocco Baldelli to bring in left-hander Taylor Rogers.
Rogers, the best reliever in the Twins’ bullpen, struck out Whit Merrifield and induced a pop out, but then served up a line-drive double to left-center field off the bat of Alex Gordon to cut Minnesota’s lead to 3-1.
Hunter Dozier then ripped a two-run single to center to tie the game before Rogers ended the inning with a ground out to third.
The Twins picked up the bullpen in the 10th on an RBI single by Cron and a run-scoring double by Eddie Rosario, and Blake Parker pitched a (mostly) clean bottom of the 10th for the win.
