Twins drop series finale to Royals, ready for road trip

The Minnesota Twins’ bats broke out in a big way the first two games of the series against the Kansas City Royals but were quieted on Wednesday as the Royals avoided a sweep with a 4-1 win.

The Twins are now 7-3 against Kansas City this year, and the Royals still have only been swept once in 2024. The clubs have one more series against each other from Sept. 6-8 in Kansas City.

With the loss, the Twins are now four games behind Cleveland and just 1.5 ahead of the Royals for the second wild card spot.

Minnesota scored 21 runs against the Royals in the first two games but plated only one on Wednesday afternoon, courtesy of a Carlos Santana solo shot with two down in the fourth — the Twins’ first hit off Royals lefty Cole Ragans on the day.

Twins hitters tried to rallied a couple of times, getting three hits in the fifth and two in the seventh against the Royals’ bullpen but failing to score either time.

Meanwhile, the Royals got to Louie Varland for three runs on eight hits, including three from former White Sox infielder Paul DeJong, and Bobby Witt Jr. also homered for the second time in three days. Twins closer Jhoan Duran, working for the first time in five days, also gave up two hits and a run in the seventh.

Minnesota now starts a road trip, with four in Texas against the Rangers starting on Thursday night followed by three in San Diego. The Rangers are 3-7 over their last 10 but the Padres are 9-1 in that span.

The division-leading Guardians, meanwhile, will go for a sweep of the Cubs Wednesday night before traveling to Milwaukee and the Bronx, a stretch that could give the Twins a chance to gain some ground as the Guardians battle some fellow division-leaders.

Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.52 ERA) is set to start for the Twins in the opener against the Rangers, who haven’t yet announced their rotation. First pitch Thursday is set for 7:05 p.m.