By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Royals avoided being swept by their AL Central foes and saved themselves from losing to much ground in the standings on Sunday afternoon, beating the Minnesota Twins 2-1 at Target Field.
Royal starting pitcher Kris Bubic continued his stellar month of May on the mound, giving up just one run early in the game as the Twins did take the lead in the first inning, Ryan Jeffers doubling to lead off the inning and then being driven in on a single by Ty France. Bubic locked in from there though and shut down Minnesota the rest of the way.
Bubic pitched seven innings and struck out nine batters, giving up just those two hits and walking two batters. He earned a no decision after the Royals managed to tie up the game in the seventh inning as Drew Waters doubled and scored on a double by Freddy Fermin.
Count on Fred. pic.twitter.com/lVnXwXmHWC
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 25, 2025
Jonathan Bowlan replaced Bubic in the eighth and recorded two outs, giving up one hit, before being replaced by Carlos Estévez who finished out the inning. Estévez pitched the ninth as well, continuing to shut down the Twins bats, giving up no hits and striking out two.
Kansas City gave Estévez the lead in the top of the 10th inning, with Nick Loftin starting at second base and two outs, Maikel Garcia singling into left field, extending his hit streak to 10 games, and driving in Loftin who raced home from second base for the 2-1 lead.
Count it. pic.twitter.com/dmeATFH5tn
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 25, 2025
Taylor Clarke came on in the bottom half of the inning looking for his first save of the season and got Royce Lewis to pop out before walking Kody Clemens. Harrison Bader grounded into a force out, beating out the throw at first base to avoid the game ending double play and putting runners at the corners for Clarke. Bader would go on to steal second base, but Brooks Lee grounded out to Bobby Witt Jr ending the game.
Estévez improved to 2-0 earning the win, Clarke notched his first save of the season. At the plate, Waters led the way going 3-4 with one run scored while Vinnie Pasquantino was 2-4.
Kansas City returns to Kauffman Stadium tomorrow, welcoming in the Cincinnati Reds. Michael Lorenzen (3-5, 3.77 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals against Nick Martinez (2-5, 3.43 ERA) for the Reds. First pitch is at 3:10pm, pregame coverage begins at 2:30 on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
