Davis’ throwing error sends Twins over Royals
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Pitcher Wade Davis made a wild flip home on a comebacker in the eighth inning and the Minnesota Twins rallied past the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
A madcap sequence put the Twins ahead and a crazy play ended it, too.
With two outs and none on in the ninth, Mike Moustakas popped a ball straight up. As he stood to watch it in the batter’s box, catcher Kurt Suzuki tripped over him, resulting in an interference call for the final out.
After the Royals scored three times in the eighth for a 3-2 lead, reliever Aaron Crow (0-1) walked two Minnesota batters to start the bottom half.
Davis struck out Joe Mauer, but Trevor Plouffe walked to load the bases. Chris Herrmann then hit a tapper back to the mound and Davis, hoping to begin an easy double play, hesitated briefly after getting the ball out of his glove.
Davis’ toss sailed past catcher Salvador Perez. Pedro Florimon scored the tying run and Brian Dozier slid home under Perez’s return throw to Davis covering the plate.
Casey Fien (1-0) got one out and Glen Perkins posted his third save.
The Royals have lost their first five road games this season, managing just nine runs. Kansas City was outscored 21-5 in the sweep at Target Field.
Josmil Pinto hit his third homer in the seventh inning to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Twins starter Kevin Correia cruised through seven innings before running into trouble in the eighth. He allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings.
Eric Hosmer’s RBI double capped the Royals’ three-run eighth.
Not wearing sleeves despite a gametime temperature of 42 degreesm, Jason Vargas held the Twins to two runs on five hits over seven innings for his third straight quality start this season.
NOTES: The Twins swept the Royals for the first time since winning four in a row in June 2011. … A CT scan revealed a small fracture in LF Josh Willingham’s hand. Twins assistant GM Rob Antony said the team will consult hand specialists, but remains hopeful that Willingham won’t need more than 15 days on the disabled list. … Both teams are off on Monday. When the Royals begin a three-game series in Houston on Tuesday, hard-throwing Dominican rookie Yordano Ventura will make his second start against RHP Lucas Harrell (0-2, 11.05). … The Twins begin a three-game series at Target Field with Toronto on Tuesday. RHP Phil Hughes will look for his first win in a Twins uniform against RHP Brandon Morrow (1-1, 5.73).
