Kansas City Royals hammer Minnesota Twins

by cmathewson on Aug 12, 2009 12:15 AM EDT in Game Recaps

The Royals jumped all over Twins pitching, and a late Twins rally fell short, as the Royals beat the Twins 14-6 on Tuesday night at the Metrodome.

Nick Blackburn gave up six earned runs and only recorded five outs on 45 pitches for his earliest start of the year. Brian Duensing wasn't much better, surrendering 3 runs while only getting four outs plus an out on the base paths. Bobby Keppel got eight outs but also gave up three runs. And Jesse Crain gave up 2 runs in his inning and two thirds of work. The four pitches combined to give up 14 runs on 18 hits and seven walks in eight innings.

All this happened against a Royals team that ranks 13th in the league hits, SLG and OPS, 14th in runs, home runs and OBP. This was the worst pitching performance by the staff all year, and it is the third game out of four in which the staff gave up runs in double digits.

The Twins did manage to score six runs on homers by Delmon Young and Brendan Harris and RBI hits by Span and Cabrera. But once again, the pitching left the team a crater it could not dig its way out of with a Bobcat.

Expect a move to get a fresh arm up here for Wednesday's game with Francisco Liriano on the mound and no long or middle relief options available.

Studs:

Miguel Olivo: He was a double away from a cycle in the fourth. He ended up with 3 runs and 3 RBI on 3 hits.

Alberto Callaspo: Reached base four times and scored 3 runs.

David DeJesus: On base five times in the game.

Duds:

Nick Blackburn: See above.

Brian Duensing: Ditto.

Bobby Keppel: Ditto

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Perkins to the DL

A pitching move will be made tomorrow

another awful night

whoever stayed at the Dome to watch that game and wasn’t a Royals fan deserves a medal

by Hjorvarthr on Aug 12, 2009 12:24 AM EDT reply actions

Hmm...not one Twins "stud"

the sign of a terrible night.

What are we at the park for except to win? I'd trip my mother. I'd help her up, brush her off, tell her I'm sorry. But mother don't make it to third. -Leo Durocher

by fischean on Aug 12, 2009 12:31 AM EDT reply actions

Thanks a lot

to however decided it was a good idea to remind Nick Blackburn that he is Nick Blackburn

by guinness junky on Aug 12, 2009 12:34 AM EDT reply actions

Time to replace Anderson?

It’s time he felt some heat.

Dear Firpo, looks like my stock is fine.

by MNPundit on Aug 12, 2009 12:36 AM EDT reply actions

I kind of wish the Detroilet Tigers or the Sox had won

because this whole “We’re only _ games back” crap is….well….crap.

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby

by FoulJack on Aug 12, 2009 12:49 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah

If we can’t beat the Royals and Indians (or any other team right now), we have no chance. I’d actually like the Twins to either go on an amazing run (not happening) or Detroit or Chicago to go on a run just so we can stop even mentioning the word “playoffs” when we all know it’s not happening.

by Sheldon on Aug 12, 2009 11:42 AM EDT up reply actions

People

Laypeople are still talking about the Twins, but if this goes on very much longer, folks like us around here are going to start feeling like string players on the Titanic.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Aug 12, 2009 5:33 AM EDT reply actions

That or a shift of attention to the Vikings.

I do love my Vikings.

by Jesse on Aug 12, 2009 6:26 AM EDT up reply actions

as long as they are not Bret's Vikings

by caluofmn on Aug 12, 2009 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

What a rough night.

I’m just glad I wasn’t around to see any of it. Ug-ly.

by Jesse on Aug 12, 2009 6:29 AM EDT reply actions

There are benefits to being on GMT

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Aug 12, 2009 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

It was even uglier

Because they had chances and in usual Twins fashion, they came up short

by Hjorvarthr on Aug 12, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions

you missed some great lines last night though

by caluofmn on Aug 12, 2009 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Fugly

The team certainly didn’t step up and compete last night. It really felt like the wheels are falling off this thing…

With Harris’ defensive “performance” at third, he very well could ride the bench the rest of this year. Even with the HR.

by Adam Peterson on Aug 12, 2009 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

My picks

1st star – ApoKeppelypse NOW
2nd star – Crainwreck
3rd star – Crainoscopy

gallows humor is all we have left, I don’t see any reason to believe this team will somehow find the eye of the tiger. These guys looked like they were doing nothing but collecting a paycheck out there.

That being said it was a great game thread and I thought it was appropriate that on the day we all celebrated the site reaching the 1 million mark that I had the best time on the site, regardless of the score.

I say forget the whole “we are only xxx games back” talk, at this point the team should have a goal of just finishing with a winning record.

by caluofmn on Aug 12, 2009 11:31 AM EDT reply actions