Glenn Sparkman shut down the powerful Twins bats, allowing just five hits and one run over seven innings of work in a 4-1 win for the Royals in the series opener against Minnesota. The outing tied the longest start of Sparkman’s career, and he now has a career 3.60 ERA in nine Major League starts.
It wasn’t apparent that Sparkman would shut down Twins hitters early, as Jorge Polanco smacked a solo home run in the first, a Major League-leading 141st home run on the season for Minnesota. But Sparkman would settle down and retire 10 of the next 11 batters and allow just one runner to get into scoring position all night.