Twins 7, Royals 4
Josh Willingham had three hits in his return to the lineup, including a two-run triple in a four-run first, as host Minnesota snapped its six-game losing streak.
Danny Valencia also had three hits and drove in two runs for Minnesota, which ended a seven-game home skid and halted Kansas City's three-game winning streak.
Staked to leads of 4-0 and 6-1, veteran right-hander Jason Marquis (2-0) went six innings, allowing three runs on six hits.
Mike Moustakas homered, singled and drove in two runs and Billy Butler collected three hits for the Royals, who dropped back into a tie with Minnesota for the worst record in baseball at 6-15.
Willingham, who had been on paternity leave, followed Joe Mauer's RBI single in the first with a two-run triple and scored on Valencia's single for a 4-0 edge.
Willingham doubled and came around to score on Valencia's run-scoring triple in the third as the Twins extended the advantage to 6-1 against Royals starter Bruce Chen (0-3), who lasted only 2 2/3 innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Twins DH Ryan Doumit drove in two runs with a double and sacrifice fly and CF Denard Span ran his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Butler extended his hitting streak to five games with his fourth consecutive multi-hit outing. He is 10-for-23 in that span, raising his average to .329. ... Willingham, who last played Tuesday, leads the Twins in batting average (.353), homers (5) and RBIs (15). ... Saturday's rainout will be made up as part of a split doubleheader on June 30. ... Twins reliever Glen Perkins threw a scoreless eighth. He bruised his knee in a fall at home Friday and was unavailable to pitch that night.