KANSAS CITY -- Andrew Benintendi thought the ball he hit in the fourth inning Thursday was going to tie the game against the Twins and land over the right-field wall for his second home run of the season.

In 29 other ballparks, it would have. Benintendi admired the ball’s flight, dropped his bat, and then realized that it was going to drop just shy of a homer.

“I’m sure you can see from my reaction, I thought there was no question that it was going to be a homer,” Benintendi said. “But it is what it is. Big yard with a lot of wind. It’s unfortunate.”

The Royals' left fielder turned on his wheels and made it safely to third base. But moments later, he was tagged out at home on a 93 mph laser throw from Twins center fielder Nick Gordon on Salvador Perez’s flyout, ending the inning with no runs on the board.

Opportunities like that, as limited as they were, were squandered by the Royals’ offense in Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Twins, as Kansas City ended the homestand one game under .500.

In 11 games this season, the Royals have been held to just under three runs per game and have scored more than three runs just three times (only one of which they won). Ten of the Royals’ 11 games have been decided by three runs or fewer -- the lone exception being a 17-3 loss to the Guardians -- and nine have been decided by one or two runs, including each of the last seven.

Their pitching has kept them in games and did again Thursday, when Zack Greinke tossed five innings of one-run ball and the bullpen extended its scoreless streak, dating back to last Thursday, to 21 1/3 innings.

But the Royals managed just three hits and were 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

“First, the message is a good series win,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s the takeaway, right now. It’s obvious we need to get our offense going. We can’t continue to throw shutouts every single night. The guys know that. We’re going to have to do the little things right, we’re going to have to get big hits. That’s just common sense.

“It’s going to happen. We’ll break out. We’re just in one of those spots.”

The lineup change Matheny made on Thursday -- moving MLB’s No. 1 overall prospect Bobby Witt Jr. down to the No. 7 spot and second baseman Nicky Lopez up to leadoff -- didn’t spark the breakout the Royals had hoped, although Witt, who entered Thursday hitting .128, knocked a double in the eighth inning. He drew a walk in the fifth inning but was caught stealing, stranded between first and second base when Twins starter Joe Ryan held onto the ball longer than Witt anticipated.

Lopez went 0-for-4 atop the lineup. Whit Merrifield, who has started and hit leadoff in 335 of the Royals’ previous 336 games dating back to June 2, 2019 (all but Alex Gordon’s final game in 2020), went 0-for-4 in the No. 2 spot and is now just 6-for-44 (.136) with a .333 OPS this season.

When Michael A. Taylor walked to lead off the ninth, the Royals had a chance with the top of their order. But Lopez fouled out on a bunt attempt, and Merrifield and Benintendi both grounded out to end the game.

“Everyone knew I was probably going to bunt there,” said Lopez, a career .409 (9-for-22) bunter who has reached base or moved a runner with 69 percent of his bunts. “... More times than not, I’m not popping it up. But [Twins reliever Emilio Pagán] has a pretty good vert on his fastball, and I just got a little bit underneath.”

The Royals are hitting .206 as a team with a .580 OPS, and they have four players in their regular lineup hitting below .150 to start the season. Some of those results are due to the small sample size.

Some are due to weather; Thursday’s game was just the third game this season over 70 degrees, and the Royals have encountered cold and rainy conditions throughout the past two weeks.

Some others are due to unluckiness; the team BABIP is .240, the fourth lowest mark in the Majors. But the team’s hard-hit rate -- balls hit 95-mph or higher -- is at 35.2 percent, tied with Oakland for 24th in baseball.

Eleven games into 2022, the panic button isn’t close to being hit.

But urgency is still felt.

“I know we’re all going to start clicking soon,” Lopez said. “To be able to win a series when we’re not swinging it very well, to be able to be in the situation that we’re in right now, and we haven’t even started clicking, is encouraging.”