Jim Thome’s home-run helps Minnesota Twins defeat Kansas City Royals 4-3 – MLB Update
Jim Thome hit the 596th hit of his career to help the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 at Target Field on Sunday, June 17.
The scintillating game saw the Twins putting an extraordinary performance to overwhelm the Royals.
However, it was Thome who had one of the best hits of his career in an equally crucial time to not only score a tiebreaking run, but also endow a perfect victory over the Twins. Suffering from injuries, Thome did not leave any doubt in the fans’ mind that
he was perfectly ready for the game.
"He's had some injuries and we know we have to limit what you can do with him to keep him healthy," Twins’ manager Ron Gardenhire said. "That was a big at-bat and it was one mistake.”
The Royals who started the game with nuanced aggression scored the first run in the very first inning against Minnesota’s starter Brian Duensing. Alex Gordon singled to left, enabling Melky Cabrera to score.
The lead, however, did not last long as the Royals starter Felipe Paulino was subject to a hit by Joe Mauer. His hit levelled the score which then remained unchanged partially because the pitchers remained in complete control of the game.
Duensing and Paulino, on their part, were hardly playable as they continued to throw effective innings, disallowing the batters to score.
As Paulino was exercising absolute control over the Twins’ offence, Thome opened his bat for something beyond ordinary. Jim Thome impeccably executed a hit for a home-run that not only was a tiebreaking score but also gave a 4-1 edge to the Twins.
That hit, of course, filled the Twins’ hitter with excessive joy tinged with pride. "It's always special," Thome said. "That feeling you want to kind of last forever. It went out, it put us ahead. And that's No. 1."
The hit was a calamity for the Royals’ line-up. "We're at the point where one mistake kills us," Royals’ manager Ned Yost said. "We're just walking a thin line. Just keep battling through it. We're getting better. We've just got to keep trudging through
it."
Jeff Francoeur tried to reverse the tide of the game with his supposedly magnificent hit, attempting to bring back the Royals in the game. Francoeur homered to bring the score down to 4-3, keeping the game open for speculation as to who will ultimately be
the victor.
The Twins’ reliever, Glen Perkins, pitched a hitless eighth inning to keep the lead intact as Joe Nathan threw another hitless inning, turning the 4-3 lead into a perfect victory for the Twins
The victory also helped the Twins win the four-game series by 3-1.
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