Luke Hochevar’s pitching helps Kansas City Royals defeat Minnesota Twins 7-3 - MLB Update
Kansas City Royals’ starting pitcher, Luke Hochevar had a tremendous day with the ball as he threw six innings and had three-strike-outs with an ERA of 4.68 in the Royals’ 7-3 victory against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City on September
14.
Joe Mauer walked during first inning while Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe both ground out without making any contribution for the Twins. Similarly, Melky Cabrera ground out to the pitcher while Alex Gordon and Billy Butler both flied out at the bottom of
first inning. Royals scored two runs to get a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Eric Hosmer scored a single run when Mike Moustakas bunted a single-run drive towards right-centre and Jeff Francoeur occupied third base. The second run for Royals was taken by Francoeur when Johnny Giavotella hit a sacrifice fly to centre-field. Revere
stole second base in the third inning but Matt Tolbert flied out and Plouffe ground out without taking runs.
Similarly, Royals were also score-less during the third inning. Twins posted their initial run in the fourth inning to reduce their lead while Royals advanced their lead 5-1 by blasting three runs at the bottom of fourth inning. Danny Valencia singled towards
centre-field and Michael Cuddyer contributed the first run for Twins. Later on, Valencia moved to second base on a throwing error.
On the other hand, Hosmer posted one run on the drive of Moustakas to left-centre and Francoeur scored the second run when Giavotella hit a grounder into fielder’s choice to first base. Moustakas got out to second base. The third run was taken by Giavotella
when Salvador Perez drove a double-run shot to deep right-field.
During the sixth inning, Twins added one run while Royals smashed two runs to raise their lead 7-2. Jason Kubel was ground out to first base but Cuddyer scored a single run for the Twins. Conversely, Moustakas added one run when Perez singled to shallow
left-field. Gordon hit a single-run drive to centre-field and Perez contributed the final run for the Royals.
Hochevar permitted five hits, two runs, two earned runs and two walks on his 88 pitches. Twins’ batters scored another single in the seventh inning to reduce their lead 7-3. Cuddyer walked, Revere scored the last run and Plouffe advanced to third base. However,
the Royals swept the Twins 2-0 in the two-game series played at Kauffman Stadium.
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