Witt homers on shoulder-high pitch, Royals beat Twins 4-1 to avoid sweep

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Bobby Witt Jr. homered on a pitch outside the strike zone for the fourth time this season and Paul DeJong finished a triple short of the cycle, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1 Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.

Witt homered into the left-center bullpen on a shoulder-high, full-count fastball from Louie Varland (0-5) in the third inning, putting the Royals ahead 2-0 with his 24th home run this season. The pitch was 4.07 feet above the ground, the highest hit by a Kansas City player for a home run since pitch tracking started in 2008, according to MLB Statcast.

Witt leads the major leagues with a .349 average.

DeJong doubled in the second inning and scored on Kyle Isbel’s groundout, singled in the fourth and homered in the sixth. DeJong reached 20 homers for the first time since hitting a career-high 30 for St. Louis in 2019, when he was an All-Star.

Cole Ragans (10-7) struck out eight and walked none in seven innings, allowing one run and five hits. He has won three straight starts for the first time as a major leaguer.

Mixing 20 changeups, 12 knuckle-curves, 11 sliders and nine cutters with 54 fastballs that averaged 95.3 mph, the All-Star retired 13 of his first 15 batters and his final six. He gave up Carlos Santana’s fourth-inning homer on a changeup, then stranded the bases loaded in the fifth when Royce Lewis grounded out.

Lucas Erceg induced two groundouts and a popup in a 13-pitch outing for his fifth save in eight chances.

Kansas City (66-55) is in position for the third AL wild card berth while the Twins (67-53) are on track for the second wild card spot. The Royals are 3-7 against the Twins this season and 14-28 against Minnesota since 2022.

Varland gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings, remaining winless since Sept. 12. He was recalled from St. Paul by the Twins, who optioned right-hander Josh Winder to the Triple-A club.

Vinnie Pasquantino added an RBI double in the seventh on a 100.3 mph pitch from Jhoan Duran.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: INF Michael Massey (back tightness) didn’t play.

Twins: Manager Rocco Baldelli said OF Byron Buxton will likely remain out of the lineup "not a long while, but a little while." Buxton exited Monday’s game with right hip discomfort, but an MRI test did not show a significant issue.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Michael Lorenzen (5-6, 3.79 ERA) is set to open Kansas City’s three-game series in Cincinnati against Reds RHP Nick Martinez (6-5, 3.16) on Friday.

Twins: RHP Bailey Ober (12-5, 3.52 ERA) is to be on the mound on Thursday night at Texas, which starts LHP Cody Bradford (4-0, 3.60).

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