Twins rally to give Odorizzi 10th straight win

Marwin Gonzalez and Max Kepler both homered, and Jake Odorizzi won his 10th straight decision as the Minnesota Twins rallied to defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-4 on Saturday night in Minneapolis. Odorizzi (10-2), who hasn't lost a game since April 10 at the New York Mets, gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks over six innings, tying his season high in earned runs allowed. He struck out seven and moved into a tie with Lucas Giolito of the White Sox for the major league lead in wins.

Gonzalez finished 2-of-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, and C.J. Cron drove in the winning run with a sixth-inning double off the bottom of the left field fence as the Twins improved 23-10 at home, including 11-3 against American League Central opponents. Taylor Rogers pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save. Whit Merrifield went 4-for-5 with a home run and two runs scored, and Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer for Kansas City, which dropped to a major league-worst 8-25 on road.

Glenn Sparkman (1-3) suffered the loss allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and two walks. He struck out three. Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Soler's 18th home run of the season, a 462-foot drive into the second deck in left, driving in Merrifield, who opened the game with an infield single.

Minnesota cut it to 2-1 in the fourth on Kepler's 17th homer of the season into the bleachers in right. It marked the 13th consecutive game the Twins homered, three off the franchise record. The Royals extended their lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Merrifield led off with his eighth home run of the season, a 387-foot drive down the left field line. Lucas Duda added a sacrifice fly, driving in Adalberto Mondesi, who had walked and advanced to third on a single by Soler.

The Twins tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run homer by Gonzalez and a two-out RBI double by Jorge Polanco, driving in Ehire Adrianza, who had reached base on a fielding error by third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert. Minnesota then took a 5-4 lead in the sixth when Eddie Rosario led off with a walk, went to second on a single by Gonzalez and scored on a line-drive double by Cron over the head of Alex Gordon and off the bottom of the left field fence.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)