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.
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