Gibson Gets First Career Win In 6-2 Victory Over Royals

It didn't take long for the Twins to get a lead for Kyle Gibson in his first major league start, and he was able to hold that lead in earning his first major league win in a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday afternoon.

Gibson had a quick first inning to start his day, beginning with a first pitch fly out by Alex Gordon to left field. He did give up a 2-out single to Eric Hosmer, but then struck out Billy Butler to end the inning.

He then sat and watched the offense take their turn as they battered Royals starter Wade Davis. He was unable to find the plate at all as he walked Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer with one out in the bottom of the first. This brought up Justin Morneau, who drove a low curveball from Davis to deep center field, and center fielder Jarrod Dyson just missed grabbing the fly ball. Instead, it caromed off his glove for a 2-run double. The next batter was Trevor Plouffe, and he smashed a Davis cutter into the Twins bullpen in left-center for a quick 4-0 lead.

Pedro Florimon would later add an RBI single that inning, and then Plouffe tacked on a sixth run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 2nd inning as the Twins chased Davis from the game, scoring 6 runs and drawing 5 walks off of him as he was only able to record three outs.

From there, Gibson took over. He did run into some trouble in the 3rd when he allowed RBI singles to Alcides Escobar and Salvador Perez, but the Royals could not put any more serious threats together against the rookie. Gibson was pulled after 6 innings and only 2 runs allowed, and from there the trio of Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, and Glen Perkins kept the Royals off the board to cement the win for Gibson.

WP: Kyle Gibson (1-0)

LP: Wade Davis (4-6)

Studs

Justin Morneau (2 for 3, 2B, 2 RBI), Trevor Plouffe (1 for 3, HR, 3 RBI), Kyle Gibson (6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K)

Duds

None

Player of the Game

Kyle Gibson

Roll Call

1. myjah, 57

2. jere.johnson.37, 45

3. Uncle Randy, 32

4. BCTwins, 30

5. twinscrazy_german, 30

6. montanatwinsfan, 29

7. SooFoo Fan, 29

8. less cowbell, more 'neau, 28

9. WestRiverTwinsFan, 26

10. kenzertz, 23

Win Probability Graph

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=0&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2013-06-29&team=Twins&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2013-06-29&team=Twins&dh=0&season=2013">FanGraphs</a></span>