KANSAS CITY, Mo. - By the end of Saturday night, most of the fans who dared to watch the end of the aquapalooza between the Twins and Royals were standing, their seats too wet to sit in.
Benches and bullpens were thin. Crisp baseball had long ceased to be played. The Twins starter and closer failed to do their jobs.
It was a game the Twins didn't deserve to win - but it might have been a game the Royals deserved to win less.
So the Twins pushed across two runs in the 12th inning to win, 9-7, in a game at Kauffman Stadium that took 4 hours, 15 minutes to play.
Delmon Young doubled to left-center to lead off the 12th, followed by a walk to J.J. Hardy. Alexi Casilla tried to bunt the runners over but beat it out for his first hit of the season, loading the bases.
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Reliever Dusty Hughes came in to face Denard Span, whose pop fly behind second normally would be caught. But the infield was pulled in to try to stop anyone from scoring, so the ball fell in as Young scored. Joe Mauer added a sacrifice fly for good measure.
The Twins have won the first two games of this series, meaning they are
6-for-6 in winning series this season. None has been sweeps, though, with the Twins failing three times to sweep a series, including their past two.
Mauer had three singles, a double and a triple for the third five-hit game of his career. Closer Jon Rauch blew his save opportunity in the 11th but got through the 12th for his first victory.
The end couldn't even go smoothly, as Hardy bobbled a grounder at short and looked to have thrown late to second in an attempt to force out Scott Podsednik. but he was called out, leading to an awkward scene as the Twins dugout emptied and had to walk around angry Royals manager Trey Hillman, who was out arguing the call.
Minnesota Kansas City
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Span cf 7 0 1 1 DeJess rf 5 2 3 1
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OHudsn 2b 7 2 1 1 Pdsdnk lf 5 0 1 1
Mauer c 6 1 5 2 BButler 1b 6 1 4 1
Mornea 1b 5 2 2 2 Blqst pr-1b 1 1 0 0
Cuddyr rf 4 1 2 2 JGuilln dh 6 0 2 2
Kubel dh 5 0 0 0 Pena pr-dh 0 0 0 0
DlmYn lf 5 1 1 0 Callasp 2b 6 0 1 0
Hardy ss 5 1 0 0 Ankiel cf 2 1 1 0
BHarrs 3b 4 1 1 0 Maier pr-cf 3 1 0 0
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Thome ph 1 0 0 0 Kendall c 3 0 1 0
Casilla 3b 1 0 1 0 Gordon 3b 6 0 2 0
YBtncr ss 6 1 3 1
Totals 50 9 14 8 Totals 49 7 18 6
Minnesota 001 210200 012-9
Kansas City 221 010000 010-7
E-O.Hudson (1), Podsednik (1), B.Butler (2), Gordon (3). DP-Minnesota 3, Kansas City 1. LOB-Minnesota 13, Kansas City 14. 2B-O.Hudson (5), Mauer (7), Morneau (4), Cuddyer (4), Delm.Young (3), B.Harris (1), DeJesus (6), B.Butler (5), J.Guillen 2 (6), Ankiel (4). 3B-Mauer (1), DeJesus (2). HR-Morneau (3). CS-Gordon (1). S-Podsednik. SF-Mauer, Cuddyer, Podsednik.
IP H R ER BB SO
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Minnesota
Blackburn 4Zc 10 6 5 2 0
Mahay 1 2 0 0 0 1
Neshek Xc 0 0 0 0 1
Crain 1Zc 1 0 0 0 0
Duensing Xc 0 0 0 1 0
Guerrier 2 2 0 0 1 1
Rauch W,1-0 2 3 1 1 1 0
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BS,1-7
Kansas City
Hochevar 6Xc 8 5 4 1 7
Parrish BS,2-2 0 1 1 1 2 0
Rupe 1Zc 0 0 0 1 1
Soria 2 1 0 0 0 3
Chen Zc 1 1 0 1 0
Tejeda L,1-2 Xc 2 2 2 1 0
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D.Hughes 1 1 0 0 0 0
Parrish pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.
Tejeda pitched to 3 batters in the 12th.
HBP-by Blackburn (Kendall).
T-4:15. A-26,649 (37,840).
