Kansas City Royals offense goes cold after first inning in 4-2 loss to the Twins

Even in the middle of the ongoing youth movement, Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny has remained steadfast in recent weeks that development will not trump the guiding principle he’s espoused since his first day on the job: Chase every win.

So when Matheny saw an opportunity to pull the trigger on the matchups that gave his club the best chance to score in the sixth inning of a one-run game, he pinch hit for a pair of rookies. Unfortunately for the Royals, they came away empty-handed in what might have been their best scoring opportunity of the night.

The Royals, who started seven rookie position players in their lineup, went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position as they dropped the first game of a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins 4-2 Monday night in front of an announced 22,003 in attendance at Target Field.

“It came down to some missed opportunities,” Matheny said. “The sixth was a huge opportunity. We’ve got second and third and we’ve got nobody out, we’ve got to create some damage. We’ve got to get something done. Unfortunately, that one slipped away and we weren’t able to get, really, anything going until the ninth.”

Royals rookie first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino hit his eighth home run of the season in the first inning to drive in the club’s only runs of the night, while Salvador Perez (2 for 4, run scored) and Michael Massey (2 for 4, double) had two hits apiece in the loss.

“Every loss is tough,” Pasquantino said. “They did a really nice job of putting together at-bats and making it really tough. Now, we look to tomorrow to try to do the same things right back to them. That’s about it. They outplayed us tonight, and they won the game. We’re going to try to do the same to them tomorrow.”

Royals starting pitcher Kris Bubic allowed four runs on 10 hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings. He gave up three of his four runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Twins starting pitcher Joe Ryan held the Royals to two runs on six hits and two walks. The Royals (48-69) didn’t have a hit against the Twins bullpen until the ninth inning.

“They did a nice job executing,” Pasquantino said. “I’ll pretty much just leave it at that. They did a really nice job of coming in there and keeping us off-balance.”

The Royals got into the scoring column four batters into the game after Perez swatted a two-out single, and Pasquantino followed up with a 411-foot smash to right field for his eighth home run of the season and his fifth in his last seven games.

The Twins sliced that two-run lead in half on Max Kepler’s RBI single in the bottom of the second. Bubic gave up back-to-back singles to start that inning before Kepler delivered a one-out single to left to drive in the run.

Similarly, the Twins started off the fifth inning with back-to-back singles off of Bubic. Then a one-out single by Jose Miranda drove in the tying run and allowed the trail runner to advance to third base. A Jorge Polanco sacrifice fly brought home the go-ahead run.

“It kind of is what it is,” Bubic said. “You know, 10 hits. Nine of them were singles. Yes, some of them were hard-hit. Just a little unfortunate at times. I made some middle mistakes that they hit, and that was that. I thought I did a good job of keeping the team in the game.

“It’s just kind of one of those days that I feel like we made pitches, and the pitches we didn’t make were all kind of capitalized on. You just kind of live with that and go on to the next.”

The two-run fifth for the Twins made the score 3-2 going into the sixth inning.

After Pasquantino walked and Massey hit a double high off the wall in right field a few feet from being a home run, Nate Eaton struck out to end Ryan’s outing. The Twins turned to their lone left-hander out of the bullpen, Caleb Thielbar, with one out and left-handed hitters Nick Pratto and Kyle Isbel due up.

Thielbar had held left-handed hitters to a .173 batting average and a slugging percentage of .250 compared to a .250 average and .400 slugging percentage against righties.

However, recently acquired right-handed slugger Brent Rooker pinch hit and hit a fly ball to left field too shallow for Pasquantino to tag up and score. Then pinch hitter Michael A. Taylor, who is having one of the best offensive seasons of his career, struck out on three pitches to end the inning.

“We’ve got to take our best shot right there,” Matheny said. “We know the back-end of their bullpen is pretty strong. They’ve got some guys with some big arms having big years. The middle is where we’re going to have to try and make something happen. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get it done. But we’re going to make our move right there.”

The Twins tacked on a run in the sixth against Bubic on a Gary Sanchez RBI single with one out.

“He just got in the middle of the plate on a couple pitches that ended up hurting him,” Matheny said of Bubic. “Then there at the end, I think he kind of hit a wall a little bit. He’s been able to stay strong through his pitch count.”

Royals reliever Jose Cuas got the final out of the inning, but put two men on in the seventh with a single and a hit batter. Left-hander Amir Garrett, who was given a three-game suspension by MLB earlier in the day which he appealed, stranded the runners in the seventh inning to keep the score at a two-run margin.

The Royals put the tying runs on in the ninth thanks to a Ryan O’Hearn leadoff double and a one-out single by Nicky Lopez. Both hits came against Twins closer and former Royals pitcher Jorge Lopez.

MJ Melendez grounded into a game-ending double play, sealing the loss in the opening game of the road trip.