Miguel Sano launched a two-out homer over the bullpen in left field off Franklin Morales, giving the Minnesota Twins a 3-2 victory over the Royals and a series win in the three-game set. That snapped an 0-for-14 slump that included 11 strikeouts. Morales thought the slump should have continued with a dozen K’s.
“The umpire missed it. The pitch was right there,” Morales said of a 2-2 pitch. “I tried to come back with the same pitch again. And I missed for my part and he got a homer.”
Sano fouled one more off before connecting deep. The pitch certainly looked close enough to swing and protect, but Greg Gibson didn’t see it that way behind the plate.
Ben Zobrist hit his 12th homer, he also tripled and scored on Lorenzo Cain’s sacrifice fly to round out the scoring for the Royals, who were held to just eight hits.
The Royals broke the previous franchise record of 2,477,700 in 1989, when fan No. 2,477,701 entered Kauffman Stadium prior to Wednesday night’s 3-2 loss in 12 innings to the Twins. The announced crowd of 32,286 pushed the season total to 2,506,913.