Kansas City Royals Outlast Minnesota Twins 10-7 in See-Saw Game

What does it take to operate a see-saw? Just two elements: you’ll both have to be of nearly equal weight, and neither one of you gets to leave.

The Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals spent a long night in the Metrodome going methodically back and forth. The lead changed nine times, and the game was tied at 3, 5, 6, and 7 runs.

The teams were matching each other offensively and defensively, but on this particular night that means they were also equally guilty of some sloppy baseball. The four errors in the game—a perfectly matched two by each team—included an almost Buckner-like misplay of a grounder by the Twins’ Alexi Casilla at second and a throwing error from Royals center fielder Coco Crisp, both of which lead to runs.

But if you’re looking for slipshod baseball, come to the eighth inning where we have it on special. The Royals have just broken another tie and pulled ahead 7-6. Manager Trey Hillman brings in Juan Cruz to preserve the lead.

Cruz is reminiscent of Oil Can Boyd, a pitcher who took things hard on the mound and threw as if he were casting out personal demons. Cruz has the same wiry build and appears wound just as tight.

He’s got stuff, no doubt, but there’s that tricky matter of throwing so hard that the grip on the ball gets too tight. His first pitch, to mild-mannered Michael Cuddyer, is a crazy heave. Cruz pinches the ball too hard or too long, and it swoops so low and outside it nearly goes from one twin city to the other.

While Cruz is pitching, the Twins get to demonstrate another version of small ball in which Cuddyer walks, advances to second on a wild pitch, to third on a passed ball (believe me, that’s splitting hairs), and scores on a single from Delmon Young. The game is tied again, and the Cruz experiment is over for the night.

The Twins will come near to matching that crummy pitching performance. The Royals’ grand comeback hinges on lefty reliever Craig Breslow walking the bases loaded in the eleventh. I have seen Breslow take care of business (the Indians, last weekend) and fall apart (frankly, nearly all other games). Tonight he’s more lost than usual.

RA Dickey was brought in to deal with the problem, the second time I’ve seen the Twins hand a late-inning bases-loaded jam to a knuckleballer. This is not exactly a safety-first measure, but the Twins have made it work before.

Not tonight. Dickey kept Breslow’s walk streak alive and walked in what would be the game winning run, then allowed two more to give the Royals their biggest lead of the night, 10-7.

The game might have hinged on how each manager used his bullpen. Ron Gardenhire brought ace closer Joe Nathan in for the ninth, when the game was tied. The idea was to shut the Royals down and use home field advantage to good effect—after all, Mauer and Morneau were due up in the bottom of the ninth.

Nathan did his job, allowing an innocent single in a scoreless inning. But the game kept going, and Gardy had to scale downward in his bullpen selection, from Guerrier (fine in the tenth) to Breslow and Dickey (losers in the eleventh).

Hillman used his bullpen in normal sequence, going from Cruz to Ron Mahay to his closer Joakim Soria. Soria entered in the tenth to finish it off, then kept the Twins quiet in the eleventh when the Royals finally had the lead again.

It looks like Hillman was the more brilliant skipper, but there’s much to be said for using your best pitcher when you know you need results, not saving him for a future that may never come. I’m not just apologizing for Gardy; I’m wishing this monomaniacal approach to elite closers were more flexible.

There were gruesome aspects to the game tonight, but I came away from it impressed that both teams remained determined to win. They played poorly at times, but with only one or two runs to go after, each team always had reason to believe.