The Minnesota Twins lost 5-0 to the Kansas City Royals on Friday night, with the teams swapping places in the AL Central and wild card standings.
The Royals now hold a half-game lead over second place in the division and the second wildcard spot.
Michael Massey had three hits, including a home run, for the Royals.
Ragans (11-9) scattered four hits in six scoreless innings to win for the first time since a 4-1 victory at Minneapolis on Aug. 14, the Royals’ only win in Minnesota this season.
Zebby Matthews (1-3) took the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits in five innings.
Ragans picked up his third strikeout of the game — and 200th of the season — to end the third inning, becoming the fifth pitcher in Royals history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season. He is the first Royals pitcher since Zack Greinke in 2009 to accomplish the feat.
The Royals scored a run in the third. Kyle Isbel took a one-out walk and scored from first base when Tommy Pham drove the ball into the left field corner. The Twins answered with a nearly identical play in the top of the fourth. Austin Martin hit a two-out double to the wall in left, but Pham relayed it to Bobby Witt Jr., who struck out Salvador Perez to retire Kyle Farmer at the plate.
Massey extended the lead in the fourth inning with a 408-foot solo home run to the right bullpen.
The Royals used their speed to score in the fifth inning. Witt avoided a double play on a comebacker to Matthews and advanced to third on a single by MJ Melendez. Melendez stole second and both runners scored on a single by Hunter Renfroe.
Yuli Gurriel’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning accounted for the final run.
NEXT
The Twins and Royals play the second game of their three-game series. The Twins start with RHP Bailey Ober (12-6, 3.95 ERA) against Royals RHP Alec Marsh (7-8, 4.70 ERA).
