Royals 4, Twins 3 (10)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Terrance Gore scored an unearned run on a wild pitch with two outs in the 10th inning as the Kansas City Royals came from behind to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Sunday.
Gore, running for Christian Colon, who led off the inning with a walk, took third on reliever Trevor May's throwing error on a pickoff attempt. May's wild pitch got Gore home with a head-first slide.
The Royals did not have a hit in the inning.
The Royals' offense, which was inept for the first eight innings, scored two runs in the ninth to tie the score at 3. With one out Lorenzo Cain singled and scored on Eric Hosmer's triple. Hosmer, who snapped an 0-for-14 rut with the hit, scored on Kendrys Morales' sacrifice fly.
Twins starter Ricky Nolasco limited the Royals to three hits and one run -- a Mike Moustakas home run in the sixth -- over seven innings and departed with a 3-1 lead.
It was a lead that Twins left-handed closer Glen Perkins could not hold.
Joe Mauer and Eduardo Nunez combined to reach base 10 times.
Mauer, who singled in his final at-bat Saturday, went 3-for-3, was hit by a pitch and walked intentionally in the ninth. Nunez, who was making his first start of the season, had four hits, matching a career high done twice previously, and was hit by a Wade Davis pitch in the 10th.
Eddie Rosario and Mauer opened the Twins' sixth with singles. Mauer's was an infield hit, off the glove of diving first baseman Hosmer. Miguel Sano, who was 0-for-7 with six strikeouts in this series prior to this at-bat, hit Edinson Volquez's first pitch for a RBI-single.
After Volquez struck out the next two batters, Escobar punched a run-producing single to center to finish Volquez's afternoon after 103 pitches.
Brian Dozier homered off Luke Hochevar in the seventh for the other Twins' run.
Volquez, who held the New York Mets to two hits in six scoreless innings in the season opener, allowed only one runner to reach second base in the first five innings before the Twins broke through with two runs in the sixth. Volquez struck out 10 and walked none in 5 2'3 innings. It was his 11th career game with double-figure strikeouts, but his first as a Royal.
Nolasco more than matched Volquez on scoreboard zeroes. Nolasco limited the Royals to three hits -- Moustakas' home run, Kendrys Morales' second-inning single and Salvador Perez's fifth-inning two-out double.
Davis (1-0) claimed the victory. May is 0-1.
NOTES: The Twins called up OF Max Kepler, who was the 2015 Southern League MVP. He replaces OF Danny Santana, who suffered a right hamstring injury Saturday, and was placed on the 15-day disabled list. "We saw in spring training, when Danny's playing relaxed baseball, he's a disruptive player on the offensive side, both being that he's a switch hitter, the short game, the base-running, and, so, it's tough to replace that," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. ... Christian Colon started at second base after not playing in the first four Royals games. ... The Twins play their home opener Monday with RHP Kyle Gibson starting at Target Field against the White Sox, who will counter with LHP Carlos Rodon. ... The Royals start their first trip of the year Monday with the first of four games at Houston. RHP Chris Young (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will start against the opener with the Astros starting RHP Collin McHugh (0-1, 135.00 ERA).