Happy hour at Target Field ended long before Friday's weather-delayed first pitch was thrown, but that didn't stop the Twins from joining the party in their wild and wacky 8-6 victory over Kansas City.
Twins hang on to defeat Kansas City Royals 8-6 at soggy Target Field
Ahead by five runs in the fourth inning, the Twins allowed the Royals to score two in the sixth and two more in the seventh to make things interesting.
April 29, 2023 at 2:37AM
They led 7-2 after four innings and just 8-6 in the seventh, but persevered for their fifth victory over the past six games of this 10-game homestand that ends Sunday.
Friday's victory included three more home runs — including Jorge Polanco's 100th of his career — by a team that now has hit one in 11 consecutive games, longest currently in the majors.
The Twins hung on despite the Royals' comeback on a day when starter Pablo López gave up six of eight runs in six innings and relievers Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar and Jorge López kept Kansas City away.
Jorge López struck out Nick Pratto with the bases loaded to end the game.
Pablo López praised his team's offense, which has hit 20 homers in its last 11 games and scored 42 runs in this homestand's first eight games.
"I didn't do anything to help the team really win, but they showed up and did their jobs and we were able to come out winners," he said. "That's the most important thing."
It all came on a promotional day that included a rare 3:10 p.m. Friday start intended to bring fans starting their weekends early to the ballpark in iffy April for $6 draft beers, $2 hot dogs and $1 sodas.
Rain delayed the game two hours, but it didn't take Twins leadoff man Max Kepler long to tie the score 1-1 by hitting the first pitch 412 feet hit to right-center field.
And don't forget Michael A. Taylor's adventurous bunt double in the fourth inning.
The Twins led 3-1 when Taylor laid down a safety squeeze bunt that scored Joey Gallo from third and lured the Royals' third and first basemen and pitcher Jordan Lyles so close nobody covered any of the three bases.
"Impressive," Kepler said. "I thought he was going to go for three."
Taylor ended up standing safe at second and the Twins led 4-2 with one out.
Asked when he last saw a bunt double, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, "I don't know if I ever have. I probably have, my memory just won't serve me. I haven't seen them, not in my days."
Taylor said he's seen one, maybe more when the third baseman had his head down watching to see if a ball would roll foul while the bunter kept running.
"Billy Burns, probably a couple," Taylor said of the retired Royals speedster. "But that's the first time for me."
After Kepler was hit by a pitch and Carlos Correa popped out, Polanco clobbered a three-run homer 379 feet down the right-field line, his second this season.
Polanco has now hit safely in all seven games since he returned from knee inflammation that ended last season early and started this one late. He has the two homers, four doubles and now nine RBI.
The Twins' 11-game consecutive homer streak dates to April 18. Most of them have come in the spring cold at home and before the weather — and the Twins, perhaps — really warm up.
"Honestly, the ball is flying," Taylor said. "Guys are hitting it like 110 (mph). I don't think the weather can stop that."
Robust competition is likely for righthander Roki Sasaki, whose agent suggests a “smaller, midmarket” team might be a good route to take, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are said to be the favorites to land him.
