Royals 6, Twins 3
Alcides Escobar stroked a tiebreaking two-run triple in the seventh inning as Kansas City won the series with visiting Minnesota.
Lorenzo Cain singled and Mike Moustakas walked in the seventh off Caleb Thielbar (2-1) before Escobar hit a one-out liner into the left-corner off Ryan Pressly to make it 4-2. Jarrod Dyson followed with a run-scoring single to center, stole second and third and scored on Eric Fryer’s throwing error.
Yordano Ventura (8-8) struck out seven and gave up two runs (one earned) and five hits in seven innings. Wade Davis struck out Eduardo Nunez with the bases loaded to end the eighth and Greg Holland worked a flawless ninth for his 29th save as the Royals won for the seventh time in nine games.
Minnesota’s Danny Santana led off the game with a homer and the Twins pushed across another run in the third due to two throwing errors by Moustakas. Raul Ibanez and Moustakas hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fifth for one run and Moustakas scored later in the inning when Minnesota second baseman Eduardo Escobar misplayed Dyson’s grounder.
Twins starter Kevin Correia allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings. Kurt Suzuki added an RBI double for Minnesota, which is just 4-9 since the All-Star break.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Minnesota dealt CF Sam Fuld to Oakland for LHP Tommy Milone before Thursday’s trading deadline. … Royals 1B Eric Hosmer left after 5 1/2 innings due to aggravating a hand injury. … Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe went 0-for-5 and is hitless in 16 at-bats over his last four games.