MINNEAPOLIS -- The Royals had previously seen a few four-hit individual performances this season -- winning four of five in such contests heading into Sunday’s series finale at Target Field
So with Adam Frazier going 4-for-5 against the Twins and the game going into extras, could Kansas City make up for that one time it lost when Vinnie Pasquantino logged four hits in the opener of a doubleheader against the Cardinals in 11 innings on June 5?
It wouldn’t be an easy path. The Royals didn’t want to replicate the mistake the Twins made on Saturday, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Kansas City drove in its first runner in scoring position in the top of the first on Frazier’s single on Sunday, but went 0-for-14 through the rest of an eventual 5-3 loss in 11 innings.
“We’ve just got to be better,” said Pasquantino, who hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the seventh. “We’ve got to find a way to find hits. We lined out a few times, just finding gloves. We’ve got to find a way to find some open space out there and do a bit of a better job.”
Frazier came up in a big spot in the top of the ninth. Twins reliever Justin Topa issued a two-out double to Maikel Garcia and an intentional walk to Pasquantino before hitting Salvador Perez to load the bases. But Frazier flied out to right to end the threat.
“It was a good day at the plate,” Frazier said. “Wish that one off Topa in the ninth would have found some ground or the wall, it would have been big for us. But yeah, tough loss. You’ve got to flush it and get ready for tomorrow.”
With Kansas City holding a 3-2 lead in the eighth, Austin Martin hit a ball that John Rave unsuccessfully made a diving attempt to corral. Instead, the ball rolled past Rave and to the left-field wall, allowing Martin to reach third for a triple and score two batters later.
“I was just trying to be too aggressive in a situation or in a time when I need to know the situation a bit better,” Rave said. “Honestly, just a stupid read and [I] need to know the situation better there. If we give up a single, we give up a single, but just trying to do too much.”
“I know if he had to do it over again, he would have played it as a single, if he knew he wasn’t going to catch it,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “But he’s probably a couple of inches away from catching that ball. So that’s effort. That’s intensity. That’s trying to do the best you can.”
After a scoreless ninth and 10th, red-hot Twins rookie Luke Keaschall drilled a fastball from Carlos Estévez in the right corner of the zone for a two-run walk-off home run and a series win.
The outcome was far from what the Royals were hoping for, but starter Ryan Bergert pitched well, keeping them in the game through 5 2/3 innings. His one mistake was a slider down in the zone that Ryan Fitzgerald hit for a two-run homer to right field, but Bergert looked sharp with eight strikeouts against only one walk.
“I think it was good,” Bergert said. “I think I was competitive in the zone, made some good pitches when I needed to. Just made one mistake and paid for it.”
As for Bobby Witt Jr., who was on the bench with a stiff back, he wasn’t a pinch-hit option as Quatraro didn’t want to rush the All-Star shortstop back to the field.
The Royals head home for a 10-game homestand ahead this week, starting with three games against the Nationals on Monday, followed by three against the White Sox and four against the Rangers to close it out. Kansas City (58-60) went 4-5 to wrap up this road trip and now sits four games out of an American League Wild Card spot.
“We swung the bat well today,” Bergert said. “Things didn't fall for us. That's just kind of how baseball is sometimes. I think we'll get hot. We'll get going for sure.”