Dobnak dominates former club, Perez triples as Royals blank Twins, 4-0

Jaylon Thompson, The Kansas City Star on Jul 29, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Kansas City Royals began Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins with a pair of rare occurrences.

In the third inning, Royals speedster Tyler Tolbert belted a 404-foot home run off Twins All-Star starter Joe Ryan. Tolbert got a 93-mph fastball on the inside part of the plate and hit it just over the left-center field wall.

And in the fourth, Royals captain Salvador Perez hit a leadoff triple — his first since the 2022 campaign. Perez chugged around the bases before belly-flopping into third base with his trademark smile.

Perez led the way with two hits on Wednesday. And the Royals followed suit in a 4-0 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

The Royals (46-63) won their third game on a season-long 10-game road trip. And despite losing first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino to injury, the club found a way to cobble together enough offense to win.

KC did its damage in the middle innings. Michael Massey recorded a sacrifice fly to drive home Perez in the fourth. Later, Royals rookies Carter Jensen and Jac Caglianone added RBI hits.

Jensen hit an RBI double down the left-field line. He scored Tolbert, who raced around the bases and scored from first. Two batters later, Caglianone added an RBI single to bring home Jensen from third.

Ryan allowed four runs in six innings. He surrendered eight hits and recorded four strikeouts in the loss.

The run support was more than enough for Royals starter Randy Dobnak. The journeyman pitcher dominated his former Twins teammates Wednesday.

Dobnak pitched seven scoreless innings in the start. He scattered four hits while allowing four hits and one walk.

Dobnak mixed his pitches, including a sinker, sweeper and change-up, to work efficiently through his start. He induced 43 swings and 14 called strikes, per Baseball Savant. The Twins were aggressive as Dobnak pitched to contact.

In the seventh inning, Dobnak retired Victor Caratini, Alan Roden and Luke Keaschall in order to finish his outing.

Another oddity: It was his first MLB win since May 21, 2021 ... as a member of the Twins.

The Royals turned to Daniel Lynch IV and Steven Cruz to finish the game. They both tossed scoreless frames to secure the shutout victory.

The Twins dropped 54-55 with the loss.

What’s next?

The Royals haven’t announced a starter for Thursday’s finale. Minnesota will start right-hander Bailey Ober (7-3, 4.56 ERA) with first pitch set for 12:40 p.m. Central.