Royals pitch another shutout, sweep Twins with 2-0 win
The Royals give up just two runs all weekend.
Michael Wacha tossed seven shutout innings and earned his 100th career win as the Royals swept the Twins with a 2-0 win on Sunday afternoon. Royals pitchers gave up just two runs on 14 hits for the entire three-game series.
Wacha ran into some trouble in the first, but was able to escape without a run scoring thanks to another great relay. Juan Miranda singled and tried to score on a double by Trevor Larnach, but Hunter Renfroe got the ball to Maikel Garcia who got it home to Freddy Fermin for the out.
The two teams exchanged goose eggs until the bottom of the fifth, when MJ Melendez led off with a walk. Singles by Fermin and Garcia loaded the bases for Garrett Hampson. His fly ball to left carried and fell about ten feet short of clearing the bases, but it was more than enough to score Fermin to put the Royals on the board. After Tommy Pham walked to load the bases again, Bobby Witt Jr. struck out. But Salvador Perez picked him up with a slow rolling infield single up the third base line that scored another run to make it 2-0 Royals.
Salvy gets an RBI infield single and the #Royals lead 2-0.
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Wacha was sharp all day, befuddling Twins hitters with his pitch mix. In seven innings, he allowed just four hits and one walk, with seven strikeouts and 16 whiffs. His post-All-Star-Break ERA falls to 2.64.
The Royals missed an opportunity for another insurance run in the eighth when Bobby Witt Jr. led off with a double. He tried to advance to third on a groundout to short from Michael Massey, but was easily thrown out. Hunter Renfroe followed up with a single that would have scored Witt if not for the baserunning blunder. Melendez flied out to end the threat with a two-run Royals lead.
Lucas Erceg gave up a hit to start the ninth, but was helped by a key defensive play by Garcia to get an out. He ended with a scoreless ninth to get his eighth save with the Royals.
The Royals improve to 79-65 and are now 2.5 games ahead of the Twins for the second Wild Card spot. They travel to New York to take on the Yankees for a three-game set beginning Monday night when Brady Singer takes on Carlos Rodon.