Twins 6, Royals 5: Six plus five equals two million

It was somewhat of an unrealistic expectation that the Twins would rattle off four series sweeps against historically favorable opponents to get themselves back into contention. But a loss here and there doesn’t hurt, as long as the team is able to get back on the horse. Today, Minnesota did just that, bouncing back for a 6-5 win to even the series at home, and improve their record to 7-2 over the last week and a half.

J.A. “J” Happ turned in a serviceable outing, tossing five innings and allowing just two Kansas City runs on three hits, the last of which was a Salvador Perez two-run shot that tied the game in the third.

The Twins had already scored once each in the first two innings - Nelson Cruz had an RBI double in the first, which allegedly scored Major League Baseball’s two millionth run, much to the delight of Dick Bremer.

Shortly thereafter, Trevor Larnach would take the first pitch of the second inning about 640 feet into right-center field.

Ervin Santana would only last three frames, walking the leadoff batter of the fourth, and giving way to Carlos Hernandez for some long-man action.

Hernandez would not do much better. He took Mitch Garver and Larnach to full counts and lost them both on balls, setting up a Rob Refsnyder bases-loaded single to put Minnesota back in front. A passed ball with two outs would bring home the second run of the inning.

The Twins would need every run they got today, including an error-induced gift run in the sixth, and another Robbie Baseball knock in the eighth. The Royals narrowed the gap to 5-3 late, using two of their six remaining outs to bring home a run on a double-play grounder in the visiting eighth.

Then, Adalberto Mondesi cracked a two-run homer to left — promptly returned to the field of play by a disgruntled fan — and made it a 6-5 ballgame, tagging Taylor Rogers for a pair in the ninth inning.

Trogdor would settle down and finish the job, three batters and two strikeouts later, the Twins had the win in the bag.

Both teams lost their right fielders due to injury today, with Jorge Soler and Max Kepler each exiting in the early going.

The series concludes tomorrow!

STUDS:

LF Trevor Larnach (1-for-2, HR, RBI, 2 BB, R)

CF Rob Refsnyder (2-for-4, 2 RBI)

RPs Jorge Alcala + Tyler Duffey (2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 K)

DUDS:

What is this? Crazy land? There’s no duds when we win!

ROBOT ROLL CALL:

COMMENT OF THE GAMETHREAD:

A little mantra for us all, courtesy of Mrmumph.