Witt Jr. hits tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh as the Royals beat the Twins 3-2

Kansas City, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Thursday.

The Royals trailed by a run before rallying for two in the seventh against reliever Cole Sands (1-1).

With one out, Freddy Fermin walked ahead of singles by Drew Waters and Jonathan India, tying the game at 2 before Witt drove a deep fly to center for the lead.

Daniel Lynch IV (2-0) struck out two of three batters faced and Carlos Estevez earned his fourth save.

Twins starter Bailey Ober allowed a first-inning run on three consecutive singles, then settled in to permit just two hits over his final five scoreless frames. He finished six innings, allowing a run on five hits and a walk, striking out four.

Ty France led off the second inning with his second home run of the year, tying the game.

After one-out walks to Trevor Larnach and France, Ryan Jeffers grounded an RBI single up the middle, breaking a 1-1 tie.

Royals starter Michael Wacha tossed 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks, with four strikeouts.

Key moment

Jonathan India fouled off four consecutive 3-2 pitches before hitting an RBI single to left, tying the game 2-all in the seventh.

Key stat

Wacha has allowed fewer than three runs in all but one of his eight starts against the Twins.

Up next

Returning to Minnesota on Friday, the Twins face Detroit Tigers RHP Reese Olson (1-1, 5.06). Minnesota will recall RHP David Festa from Triple-A St. Paul to make his first start of the season as RHP Pablo Lopez was placed on the Injured List.

The Royals travel to Cleveland, sending LHP Kris Bubic (2-0, 0.00) against Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (1-1, 6.52).

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