Baseball is a crazy game sometimes. In the 10th inning, it took a walk single from Minnesota’s Danny Valencia to finish off the Royals in a 4-3 final at Target Field on Tuesday night.
In the bottom of the 10th, Jason Kubel hit a bomb to right field and ball died and right fielder Jeff Francoeur thought he’d caught it and he did, but then he banged into the wall, the ball dropped out of his glove and it left the bases loaded for Valencia’s line drive single off Robinson Tejada for the game winner.
The Royals scored all of their runs off starter Brian Duensing and had their young relievers wiggle out of some jams. Aaron Crow got a walk and strikeout in the ninth. Lefty Tim Collins gave up a single to pinch hitter Jim Thome, but got two fly ball outs to help send the game into extras. The fourth extra inning game in 10 for KC.
Wilson Betemit went 2 for 4 with another RBI to raise his average to .400. Royals starter Jeff Francis was solid going seven innings allowing three runs on eight hits with a walk and five strikeouts.