Royals 10, Twins 5: Twins Pitching Implodes In Another Exciting Loss

For the first four innings, this was a fine, normal game. Denard Span, back from the disabled list, hit a leadoff triple and scored on a Josh Willingham single in the bottom of the first. Luke Hochevar walked in a run and Jamey Carroll smashed a sac-fly to tack on two more runs for the Twins in the third. P.J. Walters gave up a solo home run to Salvador Perez in the top of the fourth, but got out of the inning without any more damage. The Twins were winning, 3-1.

Then the fifth inning came and things started getting poopy. Walters gave up a walk followed by five straight singles before being replaced by Anthony Swarzak, who pitched fine. The Royals ended up scoring five runs, but Jamey Carroll crushed a two-run single in the bottom of the inning to keep the Twins within one and provide excitement for all the Twins' adoring fans at Target Field.

And the excitement didn't stop. Ryan Doumit tied a league record by committing three errors all in one inning. Casey Fien and Tyler Robertson each gave up a run and failed to get any outs. Alexi Casilla and Denard Span each got singles, but other than that the offense really did nothing for the rest of the game. Did I mention this game was poopy? Or have you all given up on the 2012 Twins and stopped reading this by now anyway?

Studs and duds after the jump.

Studs:

• Jamey Carroll: 1 for 3, 3 RBIs, scrappy excitement.
• Anthony Swarzak: 2.2 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 strikeout.
• Denard Span: 3 for 5, 2 runs, lead-off triple.