The Kansas City Royals scored three in the ninth but came up just short in a 10-8 loss to the Twins. The loss is the Royals third straight after being swept in Saturday's doubleheader.
Both team's offenses came alive late as they combined to score 16 runs from the sixth inning on. Kansas City took a 5-1 advantage in the sixth inning with the big blow being a two-run double off the bat of Irving Falu. Minnesota answered back with five runs in the bottom half of the frame to take a 6-5 lead. The Twins would tack on four more runs in the seventh and eighth and led 10-5 going to the ninth.
The Royals got an RBI single from Brayen Pena in the ninth and a two-run single from Falu to pull to within 10-8 but couldn't get any closer. Falu finished 3 for 5 in the game with four RBIs. Pena also drove in two runs and Eric Hosmer had three hits to raise his average to .233.
Trevor Plouffe homered twice for the Twins while Josh Willingham and Drew Butera also went deep. Willingham and Butera drove in three runs each.
Bruce Chen takes the loss for the Royals allowing six runs in 5 2/3 innings of work. Jeff Gray earns the win with a scoreless inning of relief for Minnesota.
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