Twins take Royals' Steven Cruz deep three times in the 9th for 5-1 win over Kansas City

Kody Clemens and Josh Bell hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, on Thursday.

The Twins hit three home runs in four batters with Matt Wallner going deep before a Victor Caratini groundout preceded Clemens and Bell’s power display.

Advertisement

Steven Cruz served up all three homers for the Royals, taking over for John Schreiber in the ninth inning. With Minnesota already leading 1-0 in the eighth, Schreiber walked Bell and Royce Lewis to begin the inning. After striking out Tristan Gray, he intentionally walked Trevor Larnach to face Byron Buxton in a right-handed pitcher versus right-handed batter matchup.

However, Buxton lifted a low, outside cutter to center field for a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

Facing Cole Sands in the bottom of the eighth, the Royals cut the deficit to 2-1 on consecutive singles by Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr., followed by a sacrifice fly from Vinnie Pasquantino. Sands then got Salvador Perez to ground out before Taylor Rogers took over for the Twins. He struck out Jac Caglianone on four pitches to end the inning.

Advertisement

Cruz took over for Schreiber in the top of the ninth and the Twins’ run parade began. He allowed three runs on three hits, all of them home runs.

The Royals brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning with no outs against Twins reliever Justin Topa. Jonathan India reached base to lead off the frame on a throwing error by Lewis, then Isaac Collins drew a walk on five pitches, all of which were out of the strike zone.

Lane Thomas grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but moved India to third. However, Kyle Isbel struck out on three pitches, the third being a changeup in the dirt.

For the Twins, Taj Bradley picked up the win, pitching six scoreless innings with five hits and three strikeouts. Cole Ragans took the loss for Kansas City despite allowing one run in six innings with eight strikeouts.

Advertisement

Minnesota earned only its second win of the season, improving to 2-4. The loss dropped the Royals to 3-3, a half-game behind the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the AL Central during these very early days of the 2026 MLB season.