David Lough Leads Royals to 9-8 Victory in Thriller at Minnesota

Royals NewsKansas City Royals newcomer David Lough turned in a strong performance for the Royals on Sunday, going 4-for-4 with three doubles, a home run, and three RBI in a 9-8 victory against the Minnesota Twins that ended in thrilling fashion.

Minnesota struck first in the bottom of the second as Chris Parmelee plated Justin Morneau on an RBI double to deep right field.

The Twins’ lead would be short-lived as the Royals responded with two runs in the third and three more in the fourth. Lough would rip a double to deep right in the fourth, scoring Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas to give the Royals a 4-1 lead at the time.

Minnesota would come within one run of the lead with a three-run fifth, led by a two-run shot by Clete Thomas.

The back-and-forth nature of the game would continue, as the Royals would score two more in the top of the sixth, while the Twins rallied back to tie the game at 7-7 with three runs in the seventh, highlighted by a two-run homer by Morneau.

Kansas City would score single runs in the eighth and ninth, which would prove to be enough to hold off the Twins, who countered with a Trevor Plouffe solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to cut the lead to one run.

However, Greg Holland would strike out the side following Plouffe’s homer, earning his 17th save of the season and cementing the 9-8 victory for the Royals.