Twins walk off Royals in convincing argument that Seth Lugo should be on the trade block

· Yahoo Sports

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JULY 28: Seth Lugo #67 of the Kansas City Royals delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field on July 28, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Seth Lugo has somewhere between 17 and 38 different pitches to stymie opposing batters (nine, technically, per Statcast). He did just that in Tuesday’s start against the Minnesota Twins, tossing six innings and allowing only one run. But none of them can force his offense to score or prevent his bullpen from imploding, and the Twins felled the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on a Target Field walkoff triple.

To be fair, Lugo wasn’t exactly dominant tonight. He only notched two strikeouts, and he allowed nine baserunners via six hits, a pair of walks, and an error. Lugo did very well when it counted, inducing double play after double play—one in each of his first two innings, and one in each of his last two innings. Though the Twins tagged him with one run in the fourth with a Kody Clemens double and a Josh Bell single, that would be it against the crafty veteran righty. It put the Royals bats in a position to succeed.

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Well, it put the bats in a position to succeed as much as possible. With Bobby Witt Jr. and Maikel Garcia both on the injured list, Kansas City was forced to do things tonight like “start Josh Rojas at shortstop” and “use Tyler Tolbert as a pinch hitter.” To be fair to Rojas, he was part of a nifty double steal in the sixth inning that tied the game up.

Just one batter later, Salvador Perez would single on a bloop fly ball to score Lane Thomas and make it 2-1, Royals.

Kansas City actually held onto that lead for a few innings. Daniel Lynch IV, John Schreiber, and Stephen Cruz combined for a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, although they only managed one strikeout. This, despite the offense being totally ineffectual; the Twins struck out the Royals 14 times, and Kansas City was only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Jac Caglianone and Nick Loftin drew a pair of walks apiece, I guess.

Alex Lange entered the ninth inning, and unlike his compatriots in the bullpen wasn’t so lucky in the batted ball department. It started off darkly, with Victor Caratini singling on a ground ball to lead off the frame. Fortunately, Isaac Collins made a terrific diving catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of Luke Keaschall. Unfortunately, Lange walked Brooks Lee, putting on two on with one out. And though Lange struck out Ryan Kreidler, he allowed a loooong fly ball off the bat of Royce Lewis that bounced away from Thomas and Tolbert. It scored both Caratini and Lee.

The Royals now stand at some record deeply under .500, while the Twins desperately cling to some hope of the postseason—a hope kindled by the American League being largely, ah, poopy. Kansas City is part of the poopy, if you were wondering. See you all tomorrow.

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