Kansas City Royals vs Minnesota Twins Match Player Stats On Aug 04, 2019

Jason Castro homered and Devin Smeltzer tossed six shutout innings to pick up his first major league victory as the Minnesota Twins completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 3-0 victory on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

The left-handed Smeltzer (1-1), recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier Sunday when reliever Sam Dyson was placed on the injured list with right biceps tendinitis, allowed just a pair of singles and a walk in his third major league start. He struck out four and also picked off a runner.

Taylor Rogers pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 17th save. Tyler Duffey and Sergio Romo each pitched a hitless inning of relief.

Eddie Rosario had two hits and two RBIs and Luis Arraez went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored twice for the Twins, who won for the sixth time in seven games.

Brad Keller (7-11) suffered his first loss in five career starts against Minnesota, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk over seven innings while striking out seven. It was the sixth straight loss for the Royals.

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Arraez led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a groundout by Nelson Cruz. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Rosario into the gap in right-center, where Jorge Soler made a diving catch on a sinking liner.

Castro made it 2-0 with his 11th homer in the seventh, a 417-drive over the fence in center field.

Rosario extended Minnesota's lead to 3-0 in the eighth inning with an RBI single off the wall in right, driving in Arraez who had walked and advanced to second on a walk to Cruz.

Cruz, who had homered in five consecutive games at Target Field and was 6-for-8 with four homers and 10 RBIs in the first two games of the series, finished 0-for-3 with a walk.

--Field Level Media