Twins fall to Royals 2-1 after Pablo López leaves game with injury

KANSAS CITY, MO. – If losing Pablo López to an injury in the fifth inning wasn’t a big enough gut punch Tuesday night, the Twins found a way to beat themselves in their 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

With the score tied in the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium, Bobby Witt Jr. hit a comebacker to the mound and Twins reliever Griffin Jax sailed his throw over first baseman Ty France’s head into right field. The speedy Witt raced to third base on the error.

The next batter, Vinnie Pasquantino, hit a slow ground ball to first base. Witt was running on contact, and France had no throw as Witt slid headfirst across home plate for the go-ahead run.

“It’s a throw I should make every day,” Jax said. “I didn’t make it, and we lose because of it.”

López, diagnosed with a mild right hamstring strain, will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging exam Wednesday to determine the severity of the injury.

He permitted three hits and one unearned run in 4⅔ innings before he felt tightness in his hamstring during the last three pitches in a walk to Jonathan India. It was his only walk of the game, and his last pitch was a 92.3-mph sinker, the slowest fastball he threw all night by a full 1 mph.

“It’s an area I’m not used to feeling tightness or anything,” López said. “I’m moving around and I’m aware there could be some tightness there, but there is some stability and some strength to it. I’m optimistic going into the MRI.”

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After López walked India, there were two runners on base and two outs in a 1-1 game. Twins pitching coach Pete Maki visited López to chat about the upcoming at-bat with Witt. As Maki discussed strategy, López weighed whether to mention his hamstring.

After Maki left the mound, shortstop Carlos Correa asked López whether he felt OK. López said his hamstring was bothering him, and they agreed to signal for head trainer Nick Paparesta in the dugout.

“I’ve always thought to myself you have to kill me to get me off the mound in the middle of an outing,” said López, who exited after 78 pitches. “A lot of things went through my head. I knew I wasn’t feeling my right leg underneath me, so I didn’t have my best stuff against their best guy.”

BOXSCORE: Kansas City 2, Twins 1

MLB standings

Cole Sands, who has experience warming up on the mound following an injury, walked Witt to load the bases before he induced an inning-ending flyout to the warning track in a 10-pitch at-bat against Pasquantino.

The Twins, who own a 3-8 record, couldn’t have asked for better pitching. They allowed three hits and three walks. Both runs were unearned.

López had full command of his pitches, which he said made it more frustrating he left with an injury. He surrendered his first hit in the fourth inning after Witt lined a double into center field. Mickey Gasper, the Twins’ second baseman, then fumbled a routine ground ball for an error.

Gifted an extra out, Salvador Perez drove in Witt on a hard-hit ground ball to third base. Jose Miranda dove to his left to stop the ball, then bounced a throw to Gasper at second, spoiling the opportunity for an inning-ending double play with a slow runner.

“We’re being tested right now,” Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When things don’t go well, that’s not when you start to question everything, and you start to tear down premises that you believe in. You have to be even stronger mentally.”

Royals lefty Cole Ragans struck out 11 batters across six innings. The Twins are 10 for 97 (.103 batting average) with zero homers and 36 strikeouts against lefty pitchers this year.

In the fifth inning, France lined a double to left field and Edouard Julien was hit by a pitch. Harrison Bader followed with a fly ball to the left field wall. The ball deflected off Mark Canha’s glove, causing some confusion whether he completed the catch as he fell to the ground, forcing Julien to stop at second base. Ragans retired the next two batters.

Ryan Jeffers hit a one-out single in the eighth inning and pinch-runner DaShawn Keirsey Jr. advanced to third on a single from Trevor Larnach, Keirsey outrunning Hunter Renfroe’s strong arm in right field. Finally, an offensive opportunity against Royals reliever John Schreiber.

Then Correa grounded into an inning-ending double play on a cutter that fluttered over the middle of the plate.

“That was the right pitch,” said Correa, who hit two doubles earlier. “I saw it well. Just mechanically, I stood up from my legs a little bit while I was swinging. That’s why I hit the top part of the ball and that’s why I was so mad.”