Twins drop to last wild-card spot, slip behind Royals in standings after 5-0 loss

KANSAS CITY, MO. – There were two plays within an inning of each other Friday, set up in almost the exact same fashion, but the different outcomes highlighted the Twins’ 5-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

After Kyle Isbel drew a one-out walk in the third inning, Tommy Pham lined a fastball from Twins rookie starter Zebby Matthews to the wall in the left-field corner. Isbel scored easily from first base for the game’s first run with a relay throw cut off in front of the plate.

With the Twins trailing by a run in the fourth inning, Kyle Farmer hit a two-out single. Austin Martin followed three pitches later with a line drive to left field, the ball skipping close to the same part of the wall as Pham’s RBI double. Except Farmer, running on contact, was thrown out at the plate on a relay throw from Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. by 10 feet.

“I downshifted a gear going around third,” Farmer said. “That run, it got me, that slow down around third. Tommy had a good relay, and Bobby does what he does. He’s got more tools than Home Depot.”

The loss dropped the Twins a half-game behind the Royals in the standings, pushing the Twins into the third and final wild-card spot with 21 games remaining in their season. The Twins hold a 4½-game lead above Seattle for a spot in the playoffs.

After Farmer was thrown out at the plate in the fourth inning with Christian Vázquez on deck, the Twins had no hits and only one more baserunner over the final five innings. Royals lefty Cole Ragans permitted four hits and one walk in six innings while striking out seven.

“I think we made a good, aggressive send on the ball in the corner,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’re going to want to try to take an opportunity to push a run across and make something happen. They put a good relay together and Witt threw a good ball to the plate and we’re out, but I’m fully good in that situation being aggressive.”

The Twins, who have scored more than four runs just once in their last nine games, were shut out for the ninth time this season.

Facing Ragans for the fourth time, the Twins tried a different approach with their lineup and inserted three lefthanded hitters. They typically stacked their lineup with righties against him, but Ragans allowed only five runs across 18 innings in those three starts.

It didn’t work.

Jose Miranda and Matt Wallner delivered a pair of two-out singles in the first inning, then Ragans retired nine consecutive batters. Ragans surpassed 200 strikeouts on the season with his third strikeout Friday, becoming the fifth pitcher in Royals history to punch out 200 batters in a season.

“His changeup looked like it was on today,” Farmer said. “Those guys pitched really well. Me and [Vázquez] were talking about it: they were hitting their spots and they pitched really well. They didn’t make many mistakes.

“They definitely outplayed us today.”

In an important three-game series, which features two nationally televised games between the division rivals, the Royals made all the little plays count. After Pham opened the fifth inning with an infield single, Witt bounced a one-hop comebacker to the mound. The speedy Witt, who hasn’t missed a game this season, beat out the double play throw to first base.

Witt’s hustle gave the Royals an extra out, and it led to two runs. MJ Melendez hit a single off Matthews with two outs, and Hunter Renfroe lined a two-strike slider over a leaping Farmer at shortstop for a two-run single.

“If we were able to push two or three runs across on Ragans, which we could not do tonight, but if we did, we’re probably sitting here talking about Zebby’s outing saying he battled well,” Baldelli said of Matthews, who allowed nine hits and four runs in five innings while striking out four. “But we didn’t score, so there ended up being a gap there.”

The Twins have totaled five runs in Matthews’ last four starts.