KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a tiebreaking single in a four-run eighth inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat Minnesota 4-2 Saturday night to open a 1 1/2-game lead over the Twins for the second AL wild card.
“That’s what you dream of,” Witt said. “Those are the moments you want to be in. You’ve just got to control what you can control and just get a good pitch. You just have to be there in the moment.”
Held to one hit over seven innings by Bailey Ober, the Royals rallied against Jhoan Durán (6-9) and Griffin Jax, winning their third straight following a season-high, seven-game losing streak.
Kansas City (78-65) is second behind Cleveland in the AL Central and Minnesota (76-66) is third after losing four of five.
Duran, who topped 100 mph with five of 17 pitches, entered with a 2-0 lead and gave up a one-out single to Freddy Fermin, then hit Robbie Grossman with a pitch. Kyle Isbel hit an RBI single and Jax relieved, trying for a five-out save.
“The quality of at-bats against Duran was outstanding,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “We’ve seen these guys never give up. The pitching kept us in the game.”
Tommy Pham hit a slow four-hopper to Brooks Lee and reached on an infield hit as the shortstop barehanded the ball and bounced his throw past first. Pinch-runner Dairon Blanco, who had been on second, scored on the error.
Witt, who leads the major leagues with a .336 average, looped a single into short center as Isbel scored for a 3-2 lead. MJ Melendez drove in Pham with a two-out single off Jax, who blew a save for the fifth time in 13 chances.
“When you’ve got a two-run lead in the eighth inning, you should win the game. Period,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “When you aren’t able to complete it, it’s going to frustrate everybody and it should.”
Daniel Lynch (1-0) allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.
“We’re not sitting here talking about a win without what Lynch did,” Quatraro said. “Three innings — that’s about as efficient as they come.”
Lynch wasn’t sure how long he’d be in the game.
“They just kept saying ‘Go on back out there,’” he recalled,
Lucas Erceg pitched a perfect ninth for his 10th save, his seventh since the Royals acquired him from Oakland at the July trade deadline.
Ober did not allow a runner to reach second and retired his final 15 batters.
“He certainly dominated us,” Quatraro said. “That was a great performance by him. He mixed. He used both sides of the plate. I think we maybe squared up one or two balls in seven innings.”
Ober struck out seven and walked none.
“Bailey pitched impeccably,” Baldelli said. “Once you get in the eighth and ninth and you have exceptional relievers you can bring in, that’s their job.”
José Miranda hit a two-out RBI triple in the third and scored on Matt Wallner’s double off Alec Marsh, who gave up four hits in five innings.
Royals right-hander Dan Altavilla cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Omaha.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: 1B Carlos Santana left in the bottom of the sixth inning with an unspecified illness and was replaced by Kyle Farmer.
UP NEXT
Minnesota RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-3, 3.95 ERA) starts Sunday against Kansas City RHP Michael Wacha (11-7, 3.50 ERA).
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