Royals Vs. Twins: Minnesota Drops Second Straight In 10-5 Loss

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Twins Vs. Royals: Joe Mauer Out For Third Straight Game With Back Spasms

Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer will miss his third consecutive game while dealing with back spasms, as his team tries to avoid being swept by the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night.

Mauer has been relatively healthy this season after missing 80 games in 2011. As a result, he has seen his OPS increase over 130 points. However, the All-Star catcher has missed the entire series against the Royals, and it is not yet known when he will return to action.

Drew Butera will start at catcher in place of Mauer. It will mark just the third time that he has started this month, but will be his second start of the series. He went 1-for-3 in Wednesday's loss. Here are the full lineups:

Royals

1. David Lough RF
2. Alcides Escobar SS
3. Alex Gordon LF
4. Billy Butler DH
5. Salvador Perez C
6. Mike Moustakas 3B
7. Lorenzo Cain CF
8. Eric Hosmer 1B
9. Johnny Giavotella 2B

Twins

1. Denard Span CF
2. Ben Revere RF
3. Josh Willingham DH
4. Justin Morneau 1B
5. Trevor Plouffe 3B
6. Darin Mastroianni LF
7. Eduardo Escobar 2B
8. Drew Butera C
9. Pedro Florimon SS

The Twins will send Liam Hendriks, who is looking for his first career win, to the mound. He'll face Royals righty Luis Mendoza. First pitch is scheduled 7:10 p.m. CT.

For more on the Twins, be sure to visit Twinkie Town. Additional coverage of the Royals can be found at Royals Review and SB Nation Kansas City.

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Royals Vs. Twins Final Score: Kansas City Takes Advantage Of Sloppy Defense In 10-5 Victory

A would-be slugfest in Minneapolis on Wednesday night turned into an easy win 10-to-5 for the Kansas City Royals. Both teams' starting pitchers had poor nights, with Royals starter Luke Hochevar giving up five earned runs in five innings and Twins starter P.J. Walters allowing six earned runs in four innings. But the Royals bullpen was able to hold the fort, while Minnesota's pen was let down by sloppy fielding from left fielder Ryan Doumit.

Anthony Swarzak relieved Walters and pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, but he gave way to Brian Duensing in the top of the seventh, who notched the final out of the inning. Duensing took the hill in the top of the eighth with the Royals up 6-to-5, which is when things started to go haywire. Eric Hosmer singled to start the inning, but Johnny Giavotella reached and Hosmer advanced to second on a Doumit error in left.

After a sacrifice, Duensing was relieved by Casey Fien, who was the next victim of Doumit's misadventures in the outfield. Alcides Escobar hit a ball to left field, which was mishandled by Doumit, allowing Hosmer to score. Doumit then committed another error on the play, allowing each remaining runner to advance a base. From there, the floodgates opened and the Royals put three more runs on the board.

The two teams will wrap up their series on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. CT.

For more on the Twins, check out Twinkie Town. For more on the news, notes and analysis from around MLB, check out Baseball Nation.

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Twins Vs. Royals: TV Schedule, Preview, Lineups And More

The Minnesota Twins look to even up a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, as the two teams take part in the second game of a three-game series at Target Field.

P.J. Walters starts on the mound for the Twins, as he looks to improve upon his 2-3 record. Walters has made eight starts for the Twins this year, and is the owner of a 6.05 ERA and 1.54 WHIP. Walters has lost his last two starts, and will look to right the ship on Wednesday night.

Both managers have announced the starting lineups, and they are as follows:

Kansas City Royals

RF David Lough
SS Alcides Escobar
LF Alex Gordon
DH Billy Butler
C Salvador Perez
3B Mike Moustakas
CF Lorenzo Cain
1B Eric Hosmer
2B Johnny Giavotella

SP Luke Hochevar

Minnesota Twins

CF Denard Span
RF Ben Revere
DH Josh Willingham
1B Justin Morneau
LF Ryan Doumit
3B Jamey Carroll
2B Alexi Casilla
C Drew Butera
SS Pedro Florimon

SP P.J. Walters

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. CT from Target Field. Televised coverage can be found on FOX Sports North.

For more on the Twins, check out Twinkie Town.

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Twins Vs. Royals: Minnesota Opens Series With 9-1 Loss To Kansas City

The Minnesota Twins lost the first game of a three-game series with the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, 9-1.

The Twins welcomed the Royals to Target Field following three consecutive wins over the Cleveland Indians, but the offense that fueled the winning streak ran out of gas against Kansas City.

In a battle of rookie starting pitchers, Kansas City left-hander Will Smith (5-7) outdueled Minnesota left-hander Scott Diamond (11-7) to earn the win. Smith scattered seven hits in seven innings, striking out seven while not allowing a run.

Diamond gave up 10 hits and four runs in six innings, with Kansas City centerfielder Lorenzo Cain delivering a two-run triple as part of a three-run third inning for the Royals.The bullpen was not able to slow down the Royals either as the visitors scored four runs in the eighth inning. Once again, a two-run triple highlighted the rally for the Royals, this time shortstop Alcides Escobar did the damage off of reliever Alex Burnett.

The two teams resume the series on Wednesday night at 7:10 p.m. CT.

Head over to Twinkie Town for more Twins coverage, and check out Royals Review for more Kansas City baseball news. Also be sure to visit Baseball Nation for more coverage from around the league.

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Twins Vs. Royals Lineups: Darin Mastroianni To Start In RF, Bat 8th

Eager to build on their modest three-game winning streak, the Minnesota Twins will kick off a three-game series with Kansas City on Tuesday night from Target Field.

With his MLB suspension for throwing at the head of Texas slugger Josh Hamilton now a thing of the past, Twins left-hander Scott Diamond will take the mound Tuesday looking for his 12 victory of the season. Diamond is 1-1 with a 3.86 earned-run average in two starts against the Royals this year, but enters looking to bounce back from a pair of sub-par outings since being ejected against the Rangers on Aug. 23.

After sitting out Monday's game, outfielder Darin Mastroianni will open the series as Ron Gardenhire's starting right fielder and bat eighth in Tuesday's game. The 27-year-old Mastroianni owns a .255 average with 17 runs batted in through 69 games, but has been extremely successful on the basepaths with 19 stolen bases in 21 attempts.

Here are the starting lineups for the first game of the series:

Twins
1. Ben Revere - CF
2. Jamey Carroll - 2B
3. Joe Mauer - C
4. Justin Morneau - 1B
5. Josh Willingham - LF
6. Ryan Doumit - DH
7. Trevor Plouffe - 3B
8. Darin Mastroianni - RF
9. Pedro Florimon Jr. - SS
Scott Diamond - SP

Royals
1. Lorenzo Cain - CF
2. Alcides Escobar - SS
3. Alex Gordon - LF
4. Billy Butler - DH
5. Salvador Perez - C
6. Mike Moustakas - 3B
7. Jeff Francoeur - RF
8. Eric Hosmer - 1b
9. Johnny Giavotella - 2B
Will Smith - SP

Head over to Twinkie Town for more Twins coverage, and check out Royals Review for more Kansas City baseball news. Also be sure to visit Baseball Nation for more coverage from around the league.