Twins 8, Royals 2
Anthony Swarzak pitched six strong innings for his first win in nearly two years and the Minnesota Twins scored six times in the third to end a four-game losing skid with an 8-2 road victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.
Swarzak (1-2), who spent all of last season in Triple-A, has a 1.29 ERA in two starts since replacing the injured Francisco Liriano in Minnesota’s rotation.
He allowed two runs on Thursday after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his first start last week. The victory was his first since July 26, 2009 against the Los Angeles Angels.
Michael Cuddyer, Rene Rivera, Matt Tolbert and Denard Span had RBI hits for the Twins in the third inning to chase Royals starter Sean O’Sullivan (2-5), who was charged with seven runs - three earned - in 2 2/3 innings.
A throwing error by Mike Aviles allowed the Twins to score four unearned runs in the third.
Jeff Francoeur had three hits and drove in both runs for the Royals, who have dropped 14 of their last 19.