Both Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton are on the bench tonight as the Twins continue to look for their first win of the season.

"My goal was that, before we got home, that everyone had at least a couple at bats," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "Some of the guys who have not gotten off to good starts we are giving a little bit of a blow."

Buxton is 2-for-14 with a team-high nine strikeouts. Sano is 2-for-13 with seven strikeouts NO home runs and NO RBI. That qualifies as slow starts.

So it allows Oswaldo Arcia to make his first apperance of the season. Danny Santana gets another start and remains in the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

To recap, the Twins have scored 2,2,2, and 3 runs in their four games. Hard to win if you can't score more than that.

"It gives us a little bit of a different look," Molitor said. "You're just looking for some people to step up and kind of get this ship rolling in a more positive direction."

Both Sano and Buxton appear to be healthy. Sano is taking fly balls in right field as I write this.

Some other notes:

Joe Mauer is one hit away from trying Gary Gaetti for seventh on the Twins' all-time hits list with 758. Mauer continues to hit well against Kansas City, carrying a .326 career

batting average against them.

Tonight's game will be televised on FSN PLUS, as the station is also showing the Wild game.

Just a few Twins have faced Ian Kennedy before, during series in San Diego, when he was charged with four runs over 6.2 innings against them on May 20, 2014 at Petco Park.

Chris Parmelee homered off of him. Trevor Plouffe was 2-for-3 off him with a double, RBI and a run scored on a wild pitch. Plouffe is 3-for-6 with a homer off of Kennedy.

Molitor is not showing any signs of concern. The Twins were in the same position last year at this time, although this year might appear worse because they have lost winnable games.

"For myself and my coaches, there's just a certain demeanor that you carry," he said. "To outwardly show ay type of discouragement just is inappropriate four games into a season."


Twins

Brian Dozier, 2B
Danny Santana, CF
Joe Mauer, 1B
Trevor Plouffe, 3B
Oswaldo Arcia, RF
Byung Ho Park, DH
Eduardo Escobar, SS
Eddie Rosario, LF
Kurt Suzuki, C

Tommy Milone, LHP

Royals

Alcides Escobar, SS
Mike Moustakas, 3B
Lorenzo Cain, CF
Eric Hosmer, 1B
Kendrys Morales, DH
Alex Gordon, LF
Salvador Perez, C
Omar Infante, 2B
Paulo Orlando, RF

Ian Kennedy, RHP