Twins sweep Royals after another clutch 7th inning
The Twins dominated the Royals in the opening series of the season.
We're three games into the season and the Twins already almost have as many series sweeps as they had all of last season.
Back-to-back RBI doubles by Jason Castro and Jorge Polanco broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh and the bullpen held the door close to finish off a 5-3 win and a three-game season-opening sweep of the Kansas City Royals.
The Twins swept three series in 2016, one of which was a brief two-game series against the Braves.
Minnesota outscored the Royals 21-5 in the series. Fourteen of the Twins' runs came in the seventh inning.
Additional notes:
- Max Kepler went 2-4 and hit the ball hard all four times
- Miguel Sano went 2-3 to increase his average to .444
- Jorge Polanco came back from a day off with his second 2-3 day at the plate
- Byron Buxton went 0-4 with a walk and is now 1-14 with seven strikeouts on the season
- Joe Mauer is 1-11 on the season. Combined with Buxton, they're 2-25.
- Matt Belisle stranded runners at second and third in the top of the eighth
- Brandon Kintzler pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the season
- Twins walked six more times, giving them 23 on the season
