TWINS 101

Esmerling Vazquez (0-1) lost his first career start as the Minnesota Twins fell to the Kansas City Royals 6-4 today at Kauffman Stadium.  Vazquez pitched 5.2 innings and allowed five earned runs in the 28 year old's first start.

The Twins jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after an RBI single by Justin Morneau in the top of the first and a solo shot for Chris Parmelee (4).  However, Vazquez struggled in the bottom of the second as he allowed each of the first three batters to reach base to load the bases with nobody out.  Up next, Eric Hosmer hit a fly ball deep enough to score the runner from third to cut the lead to one run.  Next, while Tony Abreu was batting, both Mike Moustakas and Hosmer stole a base to put both in scoring position.  Abreu then hit a single to score both runners to take the lead 3-2, but was thrown out at second for the second out.  After allowing a double, Vazquez finally got out of the inning.

Vazquez then cruised through the next two innings before allowing a run on a single in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to two runs.  In the top of the sixth, Alexi Casilla hit a single with the bases loaded to score two runs to tie the game up at 4-4.  This gave Tim Collins (5-2) his third blown save, but allowed him to become the pitcher of decision.  Collins lucked out however as the Royals scored in the bottom of the sixth.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Vazquez allowed a double to Hosmer to put the go ahead runner in scoring position.  Once again, the Twins brought in Tyler Robertson to keep the game tied.  However, once again, Robertson failed to do so as he allowed a single to the switch hitting Abreu and allowed the go ahead run in doing so.

The Twins would fail to score the rest of the game, giving the Royals their first win of the series.  The Twins hit 1-6 with runners in scoring position and recorded the same amount of hits as the Royals, but could not get the job done when they needed to.  However, the positive is that the Twins finally won a series and enter the last month of the season.  The Twins will look to finish strong after what has been an abysmal year.

Tags: Alexi Casilla, Baseball, Chris Parmelee, Eric Hosmer, Justin Morneau, kansas city royals, Kauffman Stadium, Mike Moustakas, Minnesota, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Tim Collins, Tony Abreu, Tyler Robertson

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