Eric Hosmer hit his first hit of the night seven hours after the first pitch, a walk-off single to break a 4-4 tie as the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins after 11 innings and a three-hour, three-minute rain delay at Kauffman Stadium.
“That was a long day,” Hosmer told the Associated Press. “With the delay, with the lights, you throw all that stuff in there, it’s definitely one of the longer ones I’ve been a part of.”
In addition to the rain delay, which threatened to wipe out the 4-4 tie and another Brian Dozier home run, the lights went off shortly after midnight due to a timer malfunction — causing yet another break in the action. Hosmer’s hit came at 2:15 am.
“It’s a tough loss,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told the Star Tribune. “We’re having trouble with the Royals and we haven’t won a game in this park and it is frustrating.”
Twins starter Jose Berrios walked in two runs with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, but the Minnesota offense tagged Royals starter Edinson Volquez for three runs in the fifth.
The Twins bats went silent after the rain delay, however, and Kansas City got the scoring run to second in each of the last four innings before Hosmer finally punched his walk-off single through.
“Now looking at it,” Dozier told the Star Tribune. “I wished we would have been washed out.”
