MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kansas City became the last team in the majors to lose this season, as Kyle Gibson pitched into the seventh inning and Oswaldo Arcia hit a two-run homer for the Minnesota Twins in a 3-1 victory over the Royals on Wednesday night.
The Royals (7-1) were chasing the 2003 team’s 9-0 start as the best in franchise history, but Gibson (1-1) used 12 groundball outs and three strikeouts to keep the highest-scoring team in the majors quiet for a night.
The Twins (2-6) went 1-8 to begin the 1994 season, the only other time in the club’s 55-year history they started with seven losses in their first eight games. Glen Perkins pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.
Edinson Volquez (1-1) struck out seven in 7 2/3 innings, with five hits and one walk allowed. He loaded the bases with no outs in the first, but he escaped with only Brian Dozier’s sacrifice fly as the damage.
Arcia’s two-strike, two-out drive into the seats above right-center field in the fourth, though, hurt Volquez. Trevor Plouffe’s single came right before that.
Lorenzo Cain bounced into a double play after consecutive singles to start the game, and Salvador Perez grounded into an inning-ending turn-two by the Twins in the second. Alcides Escobar had three of the nine hits against Gibson and Alex Gordon drove in a run with a two-out single in the fourth inning, but the right-hander didn’t walk anybody after issuing five free passes in his first start.
Gibson, who failed to finish the fourth at Detroit last week, improved to 4-0 in four career starts with a 1.38 ERA against Kansas City.
Manager Ned Yost decided to keep Cain in center field and replace Alex Rios in right field with Jarrod Dyson, only the second bench player to appear in a game so far for the Royals along with Paulo Orlando. Outfielder Terrance Gore was recalled from Double-A Northwest Arkansas for depth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: Rios said he wasn’t surprised by the diagnosis, considering how hard the pitch was and the placement of his hand against the knob of the bat. He passed a strength test on his hand, one encouraging sign for a recovery that could take about a month.
“I’m going to do my best to do what I can to shorten up the time. It’s going to depend on the bone itself, but I’m going to work on everything that I can to help the healing process a little more,” he said.
Twins: Right-hander Ricky Nolasco, seven days into his stint on the 15-day disabled list, was cleared for some long toss to test his inflamed elbow. “So far so good,” general manager Terry Ryan said, asked whether Nolasco could be ready after the 15-day minimum. “Whether it’s 15, if it’s 18 or if it’s 20, we just want to make sure he’s right.”
UP NEXT
The Royals will send left-hander Jason Vargas to the mound for the series finale on Thursday afternoon to face Twins left-hander Tommy Milone.
— Associated Press —