Twins come up empty with runners on base in 2-0 loss to Royals

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Aug 9, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis fouled a pitch directly off his left kneecap during his final at-bat of the night on Saturday, and hobbled around for a few minutes waiting for the throbbing to subside.

And that wasn’t even the most painful part of Lewis’ night.

Four times the Minnesota Twins third baseman batted with runners in scoring position, and four times he ended the inning without a run. The Twins’ eighth shutout loss of the season wasn’t entirely Lewis’ fault, of course — the lineup as a whole went 0 for 10 when given those scoring opportunities — but his was the most notable fizzle among many in the Twins’ 2-0 loss to Kansas City at Target Field, a loss that ended their modest three-game winning streak.

Lewis’ 0 for 4 included a first-inning strikeout with Austin Martin on third base; a 6-4-3 double play with Martin on third again; a routine flyout to left with Alan Roden on second base in the fifth; and that seventh-inning strikeout that made him wince, it coming with Ryan Jeffers on second. All four at-bats ended the inning, not an unusual sight for the AL Central leaders in runners left on base.

In coming up empty, the Twins wasted the most positive development of the night — Bailey Ober’s start, despite ending in a loss. The right-hander, making only his second start since coming off the injured list and his first at home since June 23, gave up just four hits over six innings, and only one run. Most important: None of those hits left the playing field, a significant step forward for a pitcher who had surrendered 17 home runs in his previous seven starts.

Ober’s lone mistake, though just as costly as the homers, as it turned out, came after he retired the first eight Royals batters he faced, including the first two of the third inning on easy flyouts. But Kyle Isbel lined a fastball into left field to break up that string, and Maikel Garcia followed with a well-placed line drive to right-center, which bounced to the wall before right fielder Kody Clemens could reach it. Isbel scored on Garcia’s double, a run that hardly seemed fatal so early in a game against a Twins team that had scored 24 runs in its previous three games.

But while the Twins put a runner on base in each of the first seven innings, including three hits from Jeffers — he’s reached base in 10 of his past 12 plate appearances — they never drove one home. Rookie lef-hander Noah Cameron gave up six hits in 5 2/3 innings, plus two walks, but never slipped with runners on base. Four Royals relievers followed that pattern, with closer Carlos Estévez retiring the Twins in order to earn his 29th save in 35 chances.

The only batter to record a hit with a runner in scoring position was Kansas City designated hitter Jonathan India, who singled against Erasmo Ramirez to drive home Adam Frazier from second base in the ninth for an insurance run.

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