KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Cole Ragans scattered four hits in six scoreless innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-0 on Friday night and traded places with the Twins in the AL Central and wild card standings.
The Royals now hold a half-game lead for second place in the division and the second wild card spot.
“His velocity was good, his carry was good, the curveball was really good,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Ragans. “Overall, how can you argue with those results?”
Michael Massey had three hits, including a home run, for the Royals.
“I was trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Massey said. “It’s been a minute since I hit one, but I put a good swing on it.”
Ragans (11-9) won for the first time since a 4-1 victory in Minneapolis on August 14, the Royals’ lone win in Minnesota this season.
“Overall, I thought me and Sal (Perez) had a good plan,” he said. “We mixed it well. In the beginning, we got ahead pretty good. Towards the back end I had to battle a little bit. The defense was good, and the guys kept chipping away and adding runs throughout the game. It was a good team win.”
Zebby Matthews (1-3) took the loss. He allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings.
“I thought Zebby threw the ball pretty decently today,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “There were a couple of pitches, a couple of at-bats, where he didn’t do what he wanted and they capitalized.”
Ragans picked up his third strikeout of the game — and 200th of the season — to end the third inning, making him the fifth pitcher in Royals history to post 200 strikeouts in a season. He is the first Royals pitcher since Zack Greinke in 2009 to accomplish the feat.
“Obviously that’s not what I play for; I play to win,” a usually low-key Ragans said with a smile. “But I thought it was cool to reach a milestone like that.”
For Quatraro, it means more than just a number.
“It’s surprising to me there have only been four previously, but that is a big number,” he said. “It speaks to a lot of things. It’s taking the ball every fifth day. Your stuff has to be good. You have to throw strikes. You have to be competitive. And you have to have that mentality to go out and challenge people in the zone and he does that. He’s leading the way with the staff.”
The Royals plated a run in the third. Kyle Isbel drew a one-out walk and scored from first when Tommy Pham yanked the ball into the left field corner. The Twins answered with an almost identical play in the top of the fourth. Austin Martin ripped a two-out double to the wall in left, but Pham threw a relay to Bobby Witt Jr., who fired a strike to Perez to retire Kyle Farmer at the plate.
“It was a great throw from Tommy and a great throw from Bobby. And a great tag. That last 90 feet is a long way,” Quatraro said.
Massey extended the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a 408-foot solo home run into the bullpen in right.
The Royals used their speed to add on in the fifth. Witt avoided a double play on a comebacker to Matthews and went to third on a single by MJ Melendez. Melendez stole second and both runners scored on a single by Hunter Renfroe.
Yuli Gurriel’s sacrifice fly in the eighth scored the final run.
TRANSACTIONS
Royals: Renfroe was returned from the 10-day Injured List on Thursday’s off day. In corresponding moves, RHP Steven Cruz was optioned to Triple-A Omaha and RHP Dan Altavilla was returned from the IL and designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
The Twins and Royals will play the second game of their three-game series. The Twins will start RHP Bailey Ober (12-6, 3.95 ERA) against Royals RHP Alec Marsh (7-8, 4.70 ERA).
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