The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kyle Gibson finally learned what it’s like to lose to Kansas City.
The Twins starter and Greenfield-Central graduate had dominated the Royals the first four times he had faced them, including a victory last week at Target Field. But his fortune finally ran out Monday night when the Royals took advantage of a series of miscues to pull away for a 7-1 victory.
Gibson, who allowed four runs, three earned, in five-plus was pleased with his pitching but nonetheless disappointed in the loss, saying “the team win is most important.”
Twins manager Paul Molitor said Gibson (1-2) did not possess much command.
Gibson struggled with his feel for off-speed pitches, Molitor said, adding that Gibson didn’t give up a lot of hits but had a lot of base runners.
Gibson allowed four hits over five innings before being relieved by Blaine Boyer. He gave up just one run through the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
Twins’ outfielder Oswaldo Arcia dropped a slicing liner from Mike Moustakas in left field. Eric Hosmer then coaxed Gibson into a full-count walk, and Kendrys Morales hit a double down the left-field line to both give Kansas City its first lead of the game and knock Gibson out of the contest.
Hosmer scored moments later on a wild pitch by Boyer, and Salvador Perez added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 through six innings.
“We’ve had a few of those games where they’ve had shape for a while, and then things kind of broke down for us,” Molitor said.
Up next
The Twins play two more games in Kansas City before heading to Seattle for a weekend series with the Mariners, where Gibson is tabbed for Sunday’s start. The right-hander owns a 2-1 career mark against Seattle with a 3.00 ERA over 18 innings covering three starts.
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Here is Gibson’s pitching line against Kansas City on Tuesday, and for the young season.
GM/YR;IP;H;R;ER;BB;SO;HR;ERA;W-L
Tuesday;5;4;4;3;4;0;0;5.39;0-1
Season;15.1;21;11;10;9;3;1;5.87;1-2
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