Royce Lewis sends Twins’ crowd home happy with walk-off hit against Royals

Final

Twins 3, Royals 2

Starting pitcher performance

On the heels of a seven-inning, one-run performance in Cleveland his last time out, Twins starter Taj Bradley turned in another impressive effort on Tuesday night. Bradley only gave up two runs in his six innings pitched, allowing just three hits and striking out 10. It marked the third time this month that he has reached double digits in strikeouts.

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The Royals broke through against Bradley in his final inning of work, one which began with a leadoff walk and eventually saw the tying run come around to score on a double steal. After Lane Thomas broke for second and Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers threw through to the bag, Josh Rojas came in and was able to beat the throw back home. Thomas later scored the go-ahead run on a single from designated hitter Salvador Perez.

Key moment

The Twins had runners on all night, but opportunity after opportunity was killed by a double play; five of them, to be exact, starting with one in the first inning.

They continued to put pressure on the Royals, though, and with two outs in the ninth inning, Royce Lewis finally broke through. He hit a ball off the center-field wall to bring home Victor Caratini and Brooks Lee for his second career walk-off hit. The Twins, who were 0-47 when trailing after eight innings, are now back to .500 on the season.

Minnesota, which outhit the Royals 10-4 in the win, scored in the fourth when Josh Bell singled in Kody Clemens, who had doubled right before him.

Buxton leaves early

Byron Buxton was replaced during the middle of the game due to right hip soreness. It’s the same hip that forced Buxton to the injured list earlier this month from July 7-20 and has been bothering him in some capacity since May.

Buxton reached first in the first on an error by Seth Lugo, though he clearly was not running all out down the line. He grounded into a force out in his second at-bat before being removed from the game.

Up next

Joe Ryan (6-6, 3.38 ERA) will make his first start since last week against the Cleveland Guardians, when he gave up six home runs in an uncharacteristic start. Ryan was then pushed back from his scheduled start on Sunday as he dealt with arm fatigue.

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