Matt Shoemaker's historically bad start helps Royals pound Twins
Bally Sports North
Matt Shoemaker surrendered nine runs in the first inning as the Minnesota Twins lost their fourth straight game 14-5 to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Shoemaker's evening didn't last long as the Royals got on the board with an Andrew Benintendi double. Salvador Perez, Michael A. Taylor and Nicky Lopez all delivered RBI singles to extend the lead before Whit Merrifield smacked a three-run homer to end Shoemaker's night.
With just 0.1 innings on the night, Shoemaker became the first pitcher in Twins history to allow nine or more runs in a start without making it out of the first inning per The Athletic's Aaron Gleeman.
The Royals' assault didn't stop in the first inning as Kansas City added four runs off Shaun Anderson in the second. With the Twins down 13-0, they added a run in the bottom of the third on a groundout by Alex Kirilloff before Jorge Polanco hit his sixth home run of the season in the fifth.
After Jarod Dyson added a run on an infield single in the seventh, the Twins showed signs of life in the eighth when Miguel Sanó ended an 0-for-24 slump with a two-run homer.
In the next at-bat, Nick Gordon wrapped up a 3-for-4 day with his first career home run to make it 14-5.
The Twins wrapped up the night with a scoreless inning on the mound from Willians Astudillo and their fourth straight loss. The Twins (22-35) will look to snap their streak in the third game of the series on Saturday afternoon.
