The game started with optimism. Trade deadline acquisition Mike Yastrzemski led off with an absolute laser of a home run. 109.3mph off the bat, 418 feet into right field. It was awesome to see!

The game quickly went off the rails after that.

Regression began battering Seth Lugo in the bottom half of the first. Matt Wallner took a pitch in the bottom third of the zone opposite field into the bullpen to tie the game up just like that. It did not get better. A walk, a single, and another single scored another run and put runners on the corners. Royce Lewis then hit a slow grounder to Bobby Witt Jr, who had no chance to make a play at home. He made a slick field/throw to Jonathan India, one of the fastest glove-to-hand-to-throw exchanges I’ve ever seen, but still could not get the out at second base. That scored another run. Two groundouts to Vinnie Pasquantino ended the inning, but it was 3-1 by the end.

Things did not get better.

In the bottom of the second, another walk/single sequence put runners on first and second. Ryan Jeffers hit a line drive up the middle beyond India’s outstretched glove. Kyle Isbel fielded it but could not make the glove-to-hand-to-throw exchange cleanly, which allowed the runner at second to come around and score to make it 4-1. With two outs, Luke Keaschall hit a single to center field, easily scoring another run to make it 5-1 by the end of the second.

Readers, it did not get better.

The Twins did not score any runs in the third, but they continued the beatdown in the fourth. Ryan Jeffers hit a high chopper to first base, and Vinnie just could not keep the ball in his glove. Kody Clemens then blasted a high home run to make it 7-1.

This is easily Lugo’s worst start of the 2025 season. And it’s his worst start as a Royal since August 13th, 2024, coincidentally also against the Twins in Minnesota. In that game, Lugo went only four innings and gave up eight runs, seven earned. Tonight, he did the same – four innings, seven earned runs. He walked two guys and struck out only one. The Twins were on him, nothing was working.

He just very rarely has had an outing this awful as a Royal, and it is terrible that it was against a division rival while the Royals are still fighting for the playoff lives. Brutal.

Daniel Lynch came on in relief. He pitched a scoreless fifth but gave up a bunch of hits, and it got to him in the sixth. Three straight line drives to Mike Yastrzemski scored another run. The Royals had a chance to get out of the inning, but Vinnie once again could not hold on to a ball near/in his glove, this time on a foul popup. Royce Lewis doubled to score the ninth run. John Rave and Witt combined to throw out Kody Clemens at the plate though to end the inning.

The Royals did manage a few runs later in the game. Bobby Witt Jr hit a 456ft home run to the third deck, his 17th of the year. The Royals added another run in the eighth off an Isbel oppo-double, a Yaz walk, and a Pasquantino single up the middle. That made it 9-3. They did load the bases before the inning was over but Adam Frazier grounded out to end the threat.

Rave and Isbel combined a double and a single to score another run in the ninth. Four runs wasn’t going to do it tonight after that bad outing from Lugo and a solid one from Twins starter Joe Ryan, who seems to be the pitching equivalent of Ty France. A Royal-killer.

It stinks to lose this badly to a division rival who just traded away dudes like Carlos Correa and Jhoan Duran. But…just gotta move on. There’s another game tomorrow.

The Royals drop to 57-59. The Twins improve to 55-60.

The Royals and Twins will play again tomorrow at 6:10pm US Central. Noah Cameron will start.