Game 155: Greinke too much for Twins
Minnesota @ Kansas City (Game 3 of 3)
The Twins have been lucky this year and have yet to go up against Zack Greinke. Their luck ran out on Sunday as Greinke displayed why he is in the running for the Cy Young award by striking out eight while giving up one run off seven hits in a 4-1 win over the Twins.
Francisco Liriano started on the mound for the Twins and made a costly mistake in the second inning by giving up a 3-run homer to Yuniesky Betancourt to give the Royals a quick 3-0 lead.
The Twins tried to come back in the third inning and loaded the bases with no out, however, Greinke retired the following three batters by getting Orlando Cabrera to ground out and getting both Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel to strike out swinging.
Betancourt would score again in the bottom half of the inning after Jeff Manship threw a wild pitch while standing at third. The run would give the Royals a four run lead.
The Twins would finally start to figure Greinke out by connecting with two consecutive hits from Orlando Cabrera and Joe Mauer. Cabrera would get moved over to third on a ground out from Jason Kubel and score on a ground out by Michael Cuddyer.
That would be the only time the Twins would cross the plate during the game. They would leave 11 runners on base and go 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position, while Joakim Soria would close out the game in the final two innings to pick up his 29th save of the season.
With the loss, not only did the Twins fail to complete the sweep of the Royals, but they failed to capitalize on a loss by the Detroit Tigers to gain ground in the AL Central.
Attendance: 28,721 (Kauffman Stadium)
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
