Royals Bullpen Falters Again

Eddie Rosario hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning and the Minnesota Twins again rallied late against Kansas City, beating the Royals 7-6 on Wednesday.

After Max Kepler hit a tying, two-run single with two outs in the Twins eighth, Nelson Cruz drew a leadoff walk in the ninth from Wily Peralta (0-1).

Pinch-runner Byron Buxton stole second and scored when Rosario followed with a single.

Willians Astudillo and Mitch Garver each had three hits and scored twice for the Twins.

Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 25 games, tied with George Brett and Mike Sweeney for third longest by a Royals player. Alex Gordon homered and drove in four runs for Kansas City.

Adalberto Mondesi kept up his fast start for the Royals with two more hits, including his third triple of the season. The 23-year-old shortstop also flashed the leather in the field, laying out for a catch in shallow left to leave the bases loaded in the sixth and then starting an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the seventh.

Trevor May (1-0) threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win and Blake Parker picked up his second save in as many days.

The game drew an announced crowd of 10,575. A day earlier, the Twins scored the tying run in the ninth and won 5-4 in the 10th on an RBI single by Cruz _ that game drew 10,024, the lowest at Kauffman Stadium in eight years.

Despite surrendering a run in the bottom of the first, Twins starter Kyle Gibson cruised through 4 2/3 innings. But after retiring the first two hitters in the fifth, the next seven batters reached base _ one on an error _ and he left with the Royals lead 6-3.

Three Twins relievers combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings. The Kansas City bullpen faltered, giving up four runs and six hits over four innings.

Homer Bailey, who was 1-14 with a 6.09 ERA last year with Cincinnati, was solid in his first Kansas City debut. He threw five innings, allowing five hits and three runs and striking out eight. batters. But for the second consecutive day, the Royals bullpen couldn’t shut down the Twins.