Six-Run Rally in 8th Powers Kansas City Royals Win

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The Kansas City Royals pulled out their 2nd straight comeback victory over the Twins in their 6-1 win Wednesday night.

Kansas City came into the 8th inning trailing the Twins 1-0 with only 2 hits against Twins starter Phil Hughes. The Royals proceeded to hammer out 7 hits and 6 runs to take an insurmountable 6-1 lead going into the 9th.

The win puts Kansas City 16 games over .500, tying a season high, at 74-58. The Royals extended their A.L. Central lead to 2.5 games over Detroit, who lost 8-4 to against the Yankees in Detroit.

On the Mound

Liam Hendriks did a wonderful job in a spot start for injured Yordano Ventura allowing only 4 hits, and 1 earned run with 5 strikeouts in 7.0 innings. Hendricks left the game trailing 1-0. The Royals 8th-inning rally took him off the hook for the loss.

Wade Davis pitched a clean 8th inning with 1 strikeout.

Greg Holland finished off the Twins with a scoreless 9th, giving up 1 hit but striking out 3.

At the Plate

The Twins shut down the Royals until the Royals’ 2-run rally in the 8th inning against Twin starter Phil Hughes.

Raul Ibanez opened the inning with a single. Lorenzo Cain pinch ran and stole second (21). Mike Moustakas followed with an infield hit that moved Cain to 3rd. Jarrod Dyson then bunted for a base hit to score Cain with the tying run. Nori Aoki then poked a single to center that scored Moustakas, but Dyson got thrown out at 3rd.

Alcides Escobar reached on a infield single, followed by a walk to Gordon. Billy Butler broke open the game with a soft single to right that scored 2 runs. Salvador Perez jammed in the stake with a 2-run triple.

The game was pretty much over with Greg Holland warming up in the pen.

This and That

Alex Gordon robbed Kurt Suzuki of at least a double with an outstanding catch in left that caused Gordon to face plant into the chain link fence over the Twins bullpen. Gordon got a standing ovation for his effort.

Brian Dozier robbed Moustakas by making a diving stop on a ground ball up the middle which he turned into a double play to end the 2nd.

Wade Davis hasn’t given up a run in his last 24.2 innings. He’s given up 1 run in his last 48.0 innings.

KC Kingdom Player of the Game

Our nod goes to Liam Hendriks who held his former team to 1 run over 7 innings after getting called up from AAA Omaha for a spot start in place of Yordano Ventura. Aussie-born Hendriks gave the team everything they could have asked.

The Royals acquired Hendriks, along with catcher Erik Kratz, in the late-July deal that sent IF Danny Valencia to the Blue Jays.

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The Twins

Phil Hughes was better than his line indicated. He gave up only 2 hits and 0 runs through 7 innings, but got charged with 4 runs in the Royals rally in 8th.

Up Next

The Royals will finish up their series against Minnesota Thursday. Kansas City will send Jeremy Guthrie (10-10, 4.32 ERA) to the mound against Tommy Milone (6-4, 4.08 ERA) for the Twins. Game time is 7:10 PM CST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.