Pablo Lopez struck out a career-high 12 batters and scattered four hits for the first complete-game shutout of his career as the Minnesota Twins completed a series sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 5-0 win on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Lopez (5-5) needed just 100 pitches to complete the gem, 76 of which were strikes. He struck out the side in both the fifth and sixth innings to highlight a stretch that saw him retire 15 batters in a row. He didn't walk a batter and allowed just one extra-base hit, a double off the right field wall by Kyle Isbel with two outs in the eighth.
Ryan Jeffers homered and had two hits and Edouard Julien also homered for Minnesota, which improved to 9-1 this season against the Royals. It was the second three-game series sweep of the season for Minnesota and the first since they opened the season with a three-game sweep of the Royals in Kansas City.
Alec Marsh (0-2) suffered the loss for the Royals, who lost for the 31st time in 43 road games.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first on Julien's sixth home run of the season, a 378-foot line drive into the bleachers in right.
The Twins capitalized on a pair of Kansas City errors to extend the lead to 3-0 in the third. Jeffers led off with a single, advanced to second on a walk to Carlos Correa and then scored two outs later on a single by Alex Kirilloff. Left fielder MJ Melendez's throw to the plate hit Jeffers in the neck and caromed over toward the first base dugout for an error. Marsh picked up the loose ball and then threw wildly to the plate as Correa scored for another error.
Jeffers made it 4-0 in the seventh with his fourth home run of the season, a 426-foot homer to dead center off reliever Taylor Clarke. The Twins then extended the lead to 5-0 in the eighth on a two-out RBI double by Donovan Solano that drove in Byron Buxton, who opened the inning with a walk.
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