Jason Castro and Jorge Polanco hit consecutive RBI doubles in the seventh inning, as the Minnesota Twins dented Kansas City’s bullpen again and beat the Royals 5-3 Thursday to sweep the season-opening series.
According to the Associated Press, the Twins are 3-0 for the first time since 2007, handing the Royals their first 0-3 start since 2001. This was Minnesota’s first sweep of Kansas City in 18 series between them since April 2014.
Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas homered off Twins starter Kyle Gibson to take Jason Hammel off the hook in his Royals debut, but new reliever Mike Minor (0-1) let the Twins take the lead again. The Royals were outscored 14-0 in the seventh inning in the series.
Taylor Rogers (1-0) worked the seventh for the victory, and Brandon Kintzler pitched a perfect ninth for his first save. Twins relievers have logged 10 scoreless innings, three games into the season.
