It took a little something from everyone on Saturday.
There was Ty France, Friday night’s hero, driving in a pair of runs to pull the Twins within a run after Harrison Bader had homered earlier in the fifth inning. There was Jorge Alcala, preserving a one-run deficit by throwing a shaky but scoreless sixth, retiring the heart of the Royals’ lineup. There was Kody Clemens, flipping his bat after connecting with a Michael Wacha fastball to the tie game up in the sixth. There was Jhoan Duran, stranding the bases loaded to in the ninth to preserve the tie.
And finally, there was Carlos Correa and Ryan Jeffers, both fresh off the bench, drawing walks in the ninth to set the stage for Brooks Lee, who made walk-off winners for the Twins for the second straight day. The Twins beat the Royals 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at Target Field, using a Lee single to capture their second win in as many days over their division foes.
The Twins, who were quieted by Wacha for the first four innings of the game, finally broke through in the fifth after Wacha had allowed just two hits through the first four and had needed just 37 pitches to get through those innings. Bader’s home run got the Twins on the board, and after Willi Castro was hit by a pitch and Christian Vázquez singled, France brought them both home, making it 4-3 at the time.
Clemens pulled the Twins even an inning later with his fourth home run of the season.
The Twins had fallen in a hole in the third when starter Zebby Matthews, making just his second major league start of the season, allowed a two-out single to Maikel Garcia with the bases loaded, scoring a pair of runs. Matthews threw four innings in his start, making way for Justin Topa, who also gave up a pair of runs in his outing.