Riding the momentum of taking their last series, Kansas City ran into a roadblock on Thursday evening with Sean O`Sullivan on the mound facing the Minnesota Twins, as O`Sullivan continued his slide during and 8-2 loss.
O`Sullivan was able to get through just 2.2 innings giving up seven runs on eight hits, however only three of the runs were earned, as the Royals were hurt by a third inning error from Mike Aviles.
After Minnesota scored once in the first, the fifth time in the last seven games the opposing team has scored in the first inning, Kansas City tied the game with one run in the bottom half of the first. Jeff Francoeur had doubled to deep center, scoring Eric Hosmer.
After getting through the second inning unscathed, things started to unravel for the boys in the blue as Minnesota scored six runs in the third inning, an inning that saw seven hits and ten players come to the plate. O`Sullivan was pulled in the inning, as Nathan Adcock came on to get Alexi Casilla to ground out, but the damage had been done.
The two teams each scored one additional run the rest of the way, Kansas City's came by way of Francoeur again as he doubled again in the fifth to score Melky Cabrera. Frenchy added a triple in the eighth inning as he was 3-for-4 at the plate. Alex Gordon added two hits in the loss as well.
Recently removed from his role as closer, Joakim Soria did pitch two innings of scoreless relief, lowering his ERA to 6.00.
Minnesota moves to 18-37, while Kansas City falls to 25-31. Twins starer Anthony Swarzak improved to 1-2 with the win, while O`Sullivan falls to 2-5. Thursday's full boxscore can be viewed here.
Danny Duffy (0-0 4.11 ERA) will be looking for his first victory tomorrow as he gets his fourth start since his promotion, facing Minnesota's Carl Pavano (2-5 5.19). Gametime is again 7:10 in Kansas City.