In the wake of Minnesota’s worst start since 2016, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli requested his players not lose their belief in each other.
The message was received — at least for one game — with a strong all-around effort on Wednesday. The Twins will look to follow that and achieve a split of a four-game series when they play the finale against the host Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon.
Minnesota won for just the fourth time in 12 games with Wednesday’s 4-0 victory.
The Twins received stellar pitching from Joe Ryan (seven shutout innings), homers from Ty France and Matt Wallner, and displayed strong defense after committing three errors in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss.
“I like the way we approached the game,” Baldelli said after Wednesday’s win. “It wasn’t any kind of slugfest on either side of the ball. It was a measured game where you had to have good at-bats and make things happen that way.”
France had three hits and two RBIs and is 5-for-11 with the homer and two doubles in the series. He’s had his best career success against Kansas City, as he is batting .412 (47-for-114) with six homers and 22 RBIs in 30 games.
France certainly will be in a hurry to get to the ballpark Thursday, because he is 10-for-20 with five doubles against the Royals’ scheduled starter, right-hander Michael Wacha.
Meanwhile, Ryan was superb with seven innings of two-hit shutout ball while improving to 7-0 all-time against the Royals.
He also felt the message from Baldelli came in handy.
“It was a great time for a speech and getting everyone relaxed and feeling good,” Ryan said. “… Knowing that we’re playing good baseball with good energy.”
The victory snapped Minnesota’s six-game skid against the Royals dating to last season.
Kansas City had won three straight games before having just two at-bats with runners in scoring position on Wednesday. The Royals had only three hits.
The Royals have scored more than just four runs twice over their 12 games, but manager Matt Quatraro said he isn’t going to panic.
“This is an everyday game,” he said. “I can’t sit here and tell you that all of a sudden they’re all going to get hot. You have to go out there and do it one at-bat at a time.
“Do I like the work they’ve put in? Absolutely. The confidence we have in these guys as hitters, they’re going to break out of this.”
Wacha (0-2, 4.66 ERA) lost to the Baltimore Orioles last Saturday when he gave up four runs and six hits over 5 2/3 innings. The Royals fell 8-1.
The 33-year-old has had success facing the Twins, going 5-1 with a 3.05 ERA in seven career outings.
Wacha faced the Twins once last season in his first campaign with Kansas City. He blanked Minnesota over seven innings and struck out seven and allowed four hits and one walk in a 2-0 victory.
Christian Vazquez is 7-for-13 and Harrison Bader is 4-for-11 against Wacha. Carlos Correa is 1-for-13 and Byron Buxton is hitless in seven at-bats.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober, Thursday’s starter, has struggled against Kansas City. He is 0-4 with a 6.50 ERA in 10 starts and has served up 10 homers in just 44 1/3 innings.
He gave up six homers in 13 1/3 innings over three 2024 starts against the Royals. He went 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA.
The season hasn’t started well for Ober (0-1, 12.15 ERA), who got clobbered for eight runs while losing to the St. Louis Cardinals on March 30 in his first start and pitched just four innings against the Houston Astros in his second on Saturday.
Kansas City’s Salvador Perez is 7-for-19 with two homers and two doubles against Ober. Bobby Witt Jr. is 9-for-19 with one blast while Kyle Isbel (4-for-12), Michael Massey (2-for-9), MJ Melendez (3-for-18) and Mikael Garcia (1-for-7) also all have one homer off Ober.
–Field Level Media
