Royals 10, Twins 5
Mike Aviles broke out of a long slump with three RBIs and the visiting Kansas City Royals rolled to a 10-5 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.
Alex Gordon and Jeff Francoeur added two RBIs each for Kansas City (7-4), which took the lead with six runs in the fourth off Francisco Liriano (0-3) and added three more in the ninth. Billy Butler, Alcides Escobar and Chris Getz each had RBI singles in the fourth.
Kansas City earned a split of the brief two-game series by beating the Twins for just the sixth time in the last 20 meetings.
Aviles, who entered hitting .103, was the offensive star. He had a two-run double in the decisive fourth and doubled home a run in the sixth after Minnesota cut the lead to 6-5 with four runs in the fifth.
The offensive outburst helped Kyle Davies (1-1) earn his first win of the season despite allowing five runs and 10 hits in five innings. The Royals bullpen allowed just two hits over the final four innings with Jeremy Jeffress pitching the final two for his first save.
Delmon Young had two RBIs and Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau each drove in a run for Minnesota, which tied a season-high for runs scored despite giving star catcher Joe Mauer the day off to rest his surgically repaired knee.
Liriano allowed seven runs and eight hits in five-plus innings. His ERA rose to 9.42.