{"id":660606,"date":"2026-04-03T10:29:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660606\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T10:29:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:29:34","slug":"minnesotas-bradley-dominates-royals-batters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/660606\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota’s Bradley Dominates Royals’ Batters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AA cubist interpretation of the Twins’ decisive victory over the Royals, capturing the dynamic energy and strategic complexity of the game.Kansas City Today<\/p>\n

Taj Bradley pitched six innings of five-hit ball, helping the Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Thursday. The Twins homered three times in the ninth inning to break open a close game. Minnesota’s win avoided a three-game series sweep by the Royals.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

The Twins’ victory snapped a four-game losing streak to start the season, giving them a much-needed boost after a tough road trip. Bradley’s strong outing also provided a lift for the Twins’ pitching staff, which had struggled early on.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

Taj Bradley (1-0) struck out three and walked one while out-dueling Cole Ragans (0-2) of the Royals. Kody Clemens scored on an error by Royals catcher Salvador Perez in the second inning, and Byron Buxton added a sacrifice fly in the eighth before Minnesota’s three-homer outburst in the ninth against reliever Steven Cruz.<\/p>\n

The game was played on Thursday, April 3, 2026.Bradley’s win improved the Twins’ record to 2-0 in his starts this season.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

Taj Bradley<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Twins pitcher who threw six innings of five-hit ball to earn the win.<\/p>\n

Cole Ragans<\/p>\n

The Kansas City Royals pitcher who took the loss, going six innings and allowing four hits and a walk while striking out eight.<\/p>\n

Kody Clemens<\/p>\n

The Twins infielder who scored on an error by Royals catcher Salvador Perez and later hit a home run in the ninth inning.<\/p>\n

Byron Buxton<\/p>\n

The Twins outfielder who hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.<\/p>\n

Matt Wallner<\/p>\n

The Twins outfielder who hit a home run in the ninth inning to start Minnesota’s three-homer barrage.<\/p>\n

Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a>
\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, I’m glad Carter’s OK. I mean, that was kind of the initial thought when you’re trying to get a hold of his parents and everything like that — just make sure he’s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Vinnie Pasquantino, Royals first baseman<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some things that cannot happen, and that’s one of them. So he’s going to have to wear it on the chin — same way anybody would have to. It can’t happen, and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Vinnie Pasquantino, Royals first baseman<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The Twins will look to build on this win as they continue their road trip, while the Royals will try to rebound from the loss.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

This game highlighted the Twins’ ability to bounce back from a tough start to the season, as well as the Royals’ need to improve their consistency and avoid mistakes like the one made by rookie catcher Carter Jensen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a A cubist interpretation of the Twins’ decisive victory over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[5,936,2123,55,2596,2595,4,252],"class_list":{"0":"post-660606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-royals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-kansas","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-royals","12":"tag-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascityroyals","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116340313549785552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}