Castro sparks Twins to sweep of Royals
MINNEAPOLIS -- Jason Castro continued his impressive debut series with the Minnesota Twins with an RBI double and two runs scored while Miguel Sano added another two hits in a 5-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon.
Castro, the catcher signed in the offseason mostly for defensive purposes, finished the series with three hits in six at-bats and three RBI to go with six walks. Castro's RBI double to the right-center field wall plated Sano from first base to give Minnesota the lead in the seventh inning.
Jorge Polanco had two hits and two RBI for the Twins, who outscored Kansas City 14-0 in the seventh inning of the series to open the season 3-0 for the first time since 2007.
Taylor Rogers (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning in relief of starter Kyle Gibson. Brandon Kintzler recorded his first save.
Minnesota's bullpen accounted for 10 scoreless innings in the series.
The Royals' bullpen was victimized again.
Mike Minor (0-1) gave up two runs on three hits in the seventh to take the loss. Starter Jason Hammel pitched five innings, surrendering three runs on six hits, four walks and two strikeouts.
Walks continued to be an issue for Kansas City pitching, but the free passes didn't hurt as much as the first two games of the season. The Royals walked Minnesota batters 23 times in the series.
Gibson allowed three runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out five but left after allowing a Mike Moustakas home run and Lorenzo Cain single to start the fifth inning.
Salvador Perez hit his first home run of the season for Kansas City.
NOTES: Twins manager Paul Molitor said LF Eddie Rosario had mild soreness around his wrist after falling on it the previous day. Rosario was the DH on Thursday with Danny Santana getting his first action of the season in LF. Rosario walked twice in four plate appearances after walking 12 times in 354 plate appearances last season. ... Kansas City's eight and nine hitters, SS Alcides Escobar and 2B Raul Mondesi, each had their first hits of the season. ... Minnesota 2B Brian Dozier had his third stolen base of the season. He had 18 stolen bases in 155 games last season. ... The Royals return home for a weekend series against the Houston Astros with LHP Jason Vargas taking the mound against Houston RHP Mike Fiers. ... The Twins head to Chicago. RHP Phil Hughes will start Friday as the White Sox counter with LHP Derek Holland.