NewsHochevar roughed up in Royals' finale
Righty takes loss as Twins force tiebreaker vs. Tigers
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
10/04/09 7:02 PM EST
MINNEAPOLIS -- Don't move home plate from the Metrodome to Target Field just yet. There will be more indoor baseball in Minnesota.The Twins, with Jason Kubel hitting a pair of three-run homers, struck early and earnestly to defeat the Royals, 13-4, on Sunday and snag a share of the American League Central lead on the regular season's final day.
The Twins will battle the Tigers for the title at 4 p.m. CT on Tuesday at the Metrodome. The winner will advance to the postseason and play the Yankees.
The Royals, with a 65-97 record, finished tied with the Indians for last place or, if you prefer, fourth place in the Central.
The Twins swept the series from the Royals and have won 16 of their past 20 games.
"Every time we got in the game, they got a big hit or made a pitch when they needed it," said Royals left fielder Willie Bloomquist. "Their back was against the wall and they got done whatever they had to get done."
The Twins also won the season series from the Royals, 12-6.
"They outpitched us this series, that's the bottom line," Royals manager Trey Hillman said. "They had very good pitching, and we didn't make enough adjustments. I wasn't real disappointed in the way we swung the bats in comparison to what we saw."
Royals starter Luke Hochevar, frequently plagued by a big inning, lasted only through the third. And this time he had two bad innings, both due to Kubel.
Kubel crashed a three-run homer against Hochevar in the first inning and another one in the third and the Twins jumped ahead, 7-0.
While the crowd of 51,155 roared and waved the traditional white hankies, Hochevar laid the groundwork for his own troubles in the first. He walked Denard Span and Joe Mauer and Kubel sent a one-strike pitch flying high over the right-field baggie.
And, wait, wave those homer hankies again, folks. With two outs, Delmon Young sent a solo blast over the left-field wall for a 4-0 lead.
"There was speculation earlier to some degree about Hochevar tipping pitches," Hillman said. "We studied everything we could study. It looked today like they had every pitch and there weren't runners at second base most of the time."
Hochevar whizzed through the second inning, but the third began with Orlando Cabrera's infield single, a ground shot that slithered out of third baseman Alex Gordon's glove, and another walk to Mauer. This time Kubel jumped on the first pitch and sent a line drive that Bloomquist strained to catch but couldn't and he spun angrily away from the wall as three more runs went up for the Twins.
"Kubel, shoot, the last two times I faced him he was a pretty good ground-ball candidate for me," Hochevar said. "That was a risk I wanted to take especially after we fell behind Mauer so quick."
That wasn't the only scoring that had the fans roaring. Later in the inning, three runs went up for the White Sox on their game at Detroit and the Metrodome went wild again. "Let's go, White Sox!" the throng chanted. That was it, though. The Tigers had a 5-3 victory, and the Twins knew they had to hold this lead to force a tiebreaker.
Young gave them another run with his second homer, this one off reliever Anthony Lerew, in the fifth inning for an 8-1 lead.
Twins starter Carl Pavano kept things in pretty good order for five innings. The Royals got their first run in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Alberto Callaspo and Mark Teahen.
But the Royals, who badgered the Twins with fearsome if futile comebacks in the first two games, closed the gap to 8-4 and chased Pavano with three runs in the sixth. Mike Jacobs' single, Callaspo's triple and a ground out accounted for two runs. Then Alex Gordon lofted a solo home run high over the right-field wall, his second homer in two days.
Even so, Hillman was impressed.
"It's the best I've ever seen Pavano pitch today," he said. "He was very good."
There were two outs but the Twins had a dickens of a time getting a third. Reliever Bobby Keppel gave up singles to Luis Hernandez and Bloomquist and he was succeeded by lefty Ron Mahay who hit Mitch Maier to load the bases. With Billy Butler representing the tying run, Jon Rauch took over and threw a called third strike past the Royals slugger.
"I didn't come through in a pressure situation," Butler said. "I thought it was outside but with two strikes and the playoff atmosphere in their stadium, [the umpires] probably expand a little more. I can't leave it in his hands -- I've probably got to swing the bat there."
After that, the Twins kept padding their lead with Michael Cuddyer ending the onslaught with a two-run homer -- their fifth of the game -- against Yasuhiko Yabuta in the eighth.
"They came to play," Butler said.
And, as a result, they'll be playing again on Tuesday afternoon.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
