KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kauffman Stadium has been a tough venue for the Twins to have success in, and it took a big offensive afternoon to get out of town with one win.
The Twins held off the Royals 9-6 on Sunday behind a season-high 18 hits, with Jorge Polanco and Johnny Field leading the way with four apiece. Both each hit a home run as four Twins went deep in the game, tying a season high.
"We needed most of them," Twins manager Paul Molitor said, "wins have been tough to come by on the road."
Yes, the Twins snapped their eight game road losing streak with the win. They also ended an eight-game losing streak at Kansas City. The Twins are just 18-39 at Kauffman Stadium since 2013 and lose this year's season series 9-10.
The Twins scored three runs in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead, on back-to-back homers by Tyler Austin and Field and an RBI single by Robbie Grossman, who on Sunday celebrated his 29th birthday. But Kansas City scored a run in the bottom of the inning then got a two-run homer from Aldalberto Mondesi in the fifth that tied the game.
Molitor stuck with righthander Kyle Gibson, who had given up five runs by the fifth. Gibson felt he was making pitches - he didn't walk a batter for just the second time all season - but not getting the desired results.
"I probably threw strikes better than I have thrown in a long time," Gibson said.
Gibson ended up pitching 62/3 innings and the Twins came up with two runs in the sixth and two in the ninth to take care of business. Taylor Rogers ran his scoreless innings streak to 22 with 11/3 innings of work, and Trevor Hildenberger pitched the ninth, giving up a run.