Royals win ninth straight game; time to get your hopes up
All right, everybody get excited! This afternoon, the Royals beat the Twins 7-2 in Minneapolis to collect their second consecutive sweep and ninth straight win. It’s the team’s longest winning streak since 2003. It’s also the first time since 2003 that the Royals (54-51) have been above .500 this late in the season.
Billy Butler knocked in two runs, and the newly arrived right fielder Justin Maxwell got his RBI as a member of the team. On the mound, James Shields tossed six innings, allowing two earned runs while striking out four and walking five. Reliever Luke Hochevar pitched two scoreless innings in relief against the sparkless Twins, and Louis Coleman closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning. The Royals now head to New York for three games against the Mets, then they return to the K on Monday for three more against the hapless, terrible, generally sucky Twins. This streak could hang around for a couple of weeks.
The highlight of the game was undoubtedly center fielder Lorenzo Cain’s sweet leaping catch at the fence to rob Trevor Plouffe of a two-run homer. Watch video of the catch after the jump.
