MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Willi Castro had a three-run home run and Royce Lewis hit a two-run shot in a six-run second inning for the Minnesota Twins on the way to an 8-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals to open a key series between the division rivals and close wild card competitors on Monday night.
“If we keep playing like this, a game like today, we’re going to be a good spot at the end of the year,” Castro said.
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Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez throws to the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt runs the bases on a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals' Kyle Isbel hits an RBI single against the Minnesota Twins in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. The RBI was the 100th of Isbel's career. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer strikes out Minnesota Twins' Max Kepler for his 600th career strikeout in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Willi Castro hits a three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis runs the bases on his two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis hits a two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Willi Castro runs the bases on his three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Pablo López (11-8) finished six innings with two earned runs allowed for his third win in four starts for the Twins. He fell behind on a first-inning home run by Bobby Witt Jr. and an RBI single in the second by Kyle Isbel, who had three hits, but the Twins overwhelmed Royals starter Brady Singer (8-8) after that.
The Twins, who improved to 6-2 against the Royals this season, remained 3 1/2 games behind American League Central leader Cleveland after splitting a four-game series with the Guardians during the weekend. The third-place Royals dropped to five games back.
“We pay enough attention to it because it’s everywhere: it’s on social media, it’s in the MLB app, it’s on the scoreboard, it’s in every ballpark when you walk in and the scoreboard has standings,” López said. “So you’re aware of it, but we like to be in the mindset that we control our own destiny.”
The Twins (66-52) occupy the second AL wild card spot. The Royals (65-54) control the third spot, with a two-game cushion above the cut in their refreshing push to return to the playoffs for the first time since they won the 2015 World Series.
Six consecutive batters reached with two outs against Singer, whose first three starts out of the All-Star break were superb before some vulnerability for the fifth-year right-hander in his last two turns.
After Austin Martin started the onslaught with an RBI single, Castro hit his ninth homer to set a career high as his helmet tumbled off on the exuberant turn around second base. Lewis then unloaded to finish an eight-pitch at-bat for his 15th home run — in just 40 games — this season.
“That’s the inning that messed up the whole night," said Singer, who hadn't given up a homer since July 14. "Obviously I would like to have that back.”
Witt was hit by a 95 mph fastball on the forearm by López, but the major league batting leader — who also has the most games, hits and runs in baseball — was able to stay in.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Royals: 2B Michael Massey batted leadoff after being scratched from the lineup with tightness in his back two days ago. The team had a rare Sunday off after a two-game series against interleague rival St. Louis. Massey had two different stints on the injured list this season with back trouble.
Twins: CF Byron Buxton departed after the fifth inning with discomfort in his right hip.
UP NEXT
Royals: RHP Seth Lugo (13-6, 2.72 ERA) will pitch on Tuesday night. Lugo, who leads MLB in wins and is second in innings, is 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA in 12 starts on the road this season.
Twins: RHP Zebby Matthews, who began the year in Class A, is scheduled to make his major league debut in the middle game of the series as the rotation gets reshuffled following the injury to Joe Ryan.
Matthews had yet to be added to the roster but was in the clubhouse on Monday afternoon after being summoned from Triple-A St. Paul. The native of North Carolina, an eighth-round draft pick in 2022, was expecting family and friends in a group of at least 20 people to be at Target Field on Tuesday.
“Most of them were kind of in shock. They couldn’t believe this was actually happening because of where I started, but they’re really excited for me,” Matthews said. "They’ve all played a big piece in my journey along the way, so being able to tell them and then having them up here tomorrow will be special.”
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Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez throws to the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals' Bobby Witt runs the bases on a solo home run against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals' Kyle Isbel hits an RBI single against the Minnesota Twins in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. The RBI was the 100th of Isbel's career. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer strikes out Minnesota Twins' Max Kepler for his 600th career strikeout in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Willi Castro hits a three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis runs the bases on his two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Royce Lewis hits a two-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Twins' Willi Castro runs the bases on his three-run home run against the Kansas City Royals in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Donald Trump began his first day as the 47th president of the United States with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders that signaled his desire to remake American institutions while also pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Speaking to Fox News, press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to detail the announcement before Trump spoke at 4 p.m. Tuesday but said it would also send a signal to the world.
“You won’t want to miss it,” she said. Trump is also scheduled to attend a national prayer service Tuesday morning at Washington National Cathedral.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune are heading to the White House to meet with Trump on Tuesday.
It’s the first formal sit down for the GOP leadership teams including Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso and the new president as they chart priorities with the sweep of Republican power in Washington.
Despite an ambitious 100-days agenda, the Republican-led Congress isn’t on the same page on some of the basics of their ideas and strategies as they rush to deliver tax cuts for the wealthy, mass deportations and other priorities for Trump.
He pledged to remove more than 1,000 presidential appointees “who are not aligned with our vision.”
In a post on his TruthSocial platform, Trump dismissed chef and humanitarian Jose Andres from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Ret. Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former State Dept. official Brian Hook from the board of the Wilson Center, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council.
“YOUR’E FIRED!” he wrote in a post just after midnight Tuesday.
Milley, the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump, received a pardon from former President Joe Biden on Monday over concerns he could be criminally targeted by the new administration. His portrait in the Pentagon was also removed. Hook, who was Trump’s Iran envoy during his first term, had been involved in the Trump administration transition. No reasoning was given for his firing.
Former President Joe Biden also removed many Trump appointees in his first days in office, including former press secretary Sean Spicer from the board overseeing the U.S. Naval Acadamy.
Rep. Elise Stefanik is likely to face questions at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations about her lack of foreign policy experience, her strong support for Israel and her views on funding the U.N. and its many agencies.
Harvard-educated and the fourth-ranking member of the U.S. House, she was elected to Congress in 2015 as a moderate Republican and is leaving a decade later as one of President Trump’s most ardent allies.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “looks forward to working again with President Trump on his second term,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Monday.
When she appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Stefanik is likely to be grilled about her views on the wars in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere as well as the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs — all issues on the U.N. agenda.
▶ Read more about Elise Stefanik’s confirmation hearing
Scholz said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that “not every press conference in Washington, not every tweet should send us straight into excited, existential debates. That’s also the case after the change of government that took place in Washington yesterday.”
Scholz said the U.S. is Germany’s closest ally outside Europe and he’ll do everything to keep in that way.
He acknowledged that Trump and his administration “will keep the world on tenterhooks in the coming years” in energy, climate, trade and security policy. But he said “we can and will deal with all this, without unnecessary agitation and outrage, but also without false ingratiation or telling people what they want to hear.”
Scholz said of Trump’s “America First” approach that there’s nothing wrong with looking to the interests of one’s own country – “we all do that. But it is also the case that cooperation and agreement with others are mostly also in one’s interest.”
Speaking in the Oval Office Monday, Trump rejected Biden’s warning that the U.S. is becoming an “ oligarchy ” for tech billionaires, saying the executives supported Democrats until they realized Biden “didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”
“They did desert him,” Trump added. “They were all with him, every one of them, and now they are all with me.”
Despite taking millions from the executives and their companies for his inaugural committee — and receiving more than $200 million in assistance from Musk in his presidential campaign — Trump claimed he didn’t need their money and they wouldn’t be receiving anything in return.
“They’re not going to get anything from me,” Trump said. “I don’t need money, but I do want the nation to do well, and they’re smart people and they create a lot of jobs.”
Some of the most exclusive seats at Trump’s inauguration on Monday were reserved for powerful tech CEOs who also happen to be among the world’s richest men.
That’s a shift from tradition, especially for a president who has characterized himself as a champion of the working class. Seats so close to the president are usually reserved for the president’s family, past presidents and other honored guests.
The mega-rich have long had a prominent role in national politics, and several billionaires helped bankroll the campaign of Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
But the inaugural display highlights the unusually direct role the world’s wealthiest people will likely have in the new administration. In his outgoing address, Biden warned that the U.S. was becoming an oligarchy of tech billionaires wielding dangerous levels of power and influence on the nation.
▶ Read more about the billionaires at Trump’s inauguration
Outside the National Cathedral, just a few hours before the Interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation, which both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to attend, the scene before was decidedly quiet.
At the Cathedral only a few dog walkers dotted the sidewalk and the police presence was low.
It was a far cry from yesterday when thousands lined up in downtown D.C. festooned in the red regalia of MAGA nation — or the security and foot traffic from earlier this month for the funeral service of former President Jimmy Carter where Secret Service vehicles could be seen at least a mile from the Cathedral.
The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.
Rubio, the Republican senator from Florida, is among the least controversial of Trump’s nominees and vote was decisive, 99-0.
It’s often tradition for the Senate to convene immediately after the ceremonial pomp of the inauguration to begin putting the new president’s team in place, particularly the national security officials.
▶ Read more about Marco Rubio’s confirmation
All the living former presidents were there and the outgoing president amicably greeted his successor, who gave a speech about the country’s bright future and who left to the blare of a brass band.
At first glance, President Donald Trump’ssecond inauguration seemed like a continuation of the country’s nearly 250-year-long tradition of peaceful transfers of power, essential to its democracy. And there was much to celebrate: Trump won a free and fair election last fall, and his supporters hope he will be able to fix problems at the border, end the war in Ukraine and get inflation under control.
Still, on Monday, the warning signs were clear.
Due to frigid temperatures, Trump’s swearing-in was held in the Capitol Rotunda, where rioters seeking to keep him in power the last time roamed during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Trump walked into the space from the hall leading to the building’s west front tunnel, where some of the worst hand-to-hand combat between Trump supporters and police occurred that day.
After giving a speech pledging that “never again” would the government “persecute political opponents,” Trump then gave a second, impromptu address to a crowd of supporters. The president lamented that his inaugural address had been sanitized, said he would shortly pardon the Jan. 6 rioters and fumed at last-minute preemptive pardons issued by outgoing President Joe Biden to the members of the congressional committee that investigated the attack.
▶ Read more about Trump’s Inauguration Day
President Donald Trump signs an executive order to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, as White House staff secretary Will Scharf watches. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks as first lady Melania Trump listens at the Commander in Chief Ball, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)