Kyle Isbel went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
Michael Lorenzen pitched six solid innings and Vinny Pasquantino and Bobby Witt Jr. drove in one run apiece as the Royals won the opener of the four-game set.
Willi Castro and Harrison Bader drove in runs for the Twins, who lost for the third time in their last four games. Bader and Matt Wallner had two hits apiece for Minnesota.
Lorenzen (1-1) allowed one run and five hits. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter while helping Kansas City win for the third time in its last four games.
Hunter Harvey and Lucas Erceg tossed scoreless innings before Royals closer Carlos Estevez ran into trouble in the ninth.
Estevez hit Ty France on the elbow with one out then walked Castro with two out before Bader lined a single into left center to score France. Estevez then retired pinch hitter Edouard Julien on a grounder to second to record his third save.
Minnesota’s Simeon Woods Richardson (0-1) was touched up for four runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked four.
The Royals moved ahead to stay by pushing across two runs in the second inning.
MJ Melendez narrowly missed a home run to right and cruised into second with a double to lead off the inning. Maikel Garcia then singled to right to put runners on the corners.
Isbel reached on an infield single to score Melendez and one out later Witt hit into a fielder’s choice to score Garcia and give Kansas City a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Isbel jumped on a first-pitch changeup and hit a two-out homer to right to make it a three-run margin.
Jonathan India led off the bottom of the first with a double on a drive to deep left center that Minnesota’s Byron Buxton had carom off his glove. One out later, Pasquantino hit an RBI double to left.
The Twins tied the score in the second. France double with one out, moved to third on a two-out wild pitch by Lorenzen and scored on Castro’s double to center.
