KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Nothing like having good neighbors come to your aid in a time of need.
Throughout these first two months of the season, each time the Twins' season hits major turbulence, a friendly AL Central companion shows up to help turn things around. When the Twins were reeling through a 2-11 April skid, the White Sox obligingly provided three straight wins. When the Twins lost three of four games on their last homestand, the Tigers dropped by to drop a couple games. And on Monday, fresh off a deflating sweep in Seattle, the Twins arrived in steamy Kauffman Stadium to take advantage of the reeling Royals' pitching staff.
Miguel Sano hit his first home run in more than a month, Brian Dozier drove in runs for only the second time in two weeks, and Eddie Rosario collected more RBIs with one swing than in the past 14 games combined, propelling Minnesota to an 8-5 victory over their fourth-place buddies.
It was the fourth straight Twins game to be decided by one or two runs, and the first one they won. But it was hardly easy. Lance Lynn allowed only two runs over six laborious innings, putting runners on base in four of them. Zach Duke surrendered a couple two-out runs in the eighth, the product of a hit batter, a bunt hit and an errant throw. And Fernando Rodney made the first eighth-inning appearance of his Twins career, pitching a little extra to earn his ninth consecutive save.
But ultimately, the Royals _ the only major-league team whose rotation and bullpen both own collective ERAs above 5.00 _ were dogged in their determination to rescue the Twins' fading hopes of remaining in the pennant race.
Minnesota collected 12 hits, its biggest offensive onslaught since May 4, and it had been even longer since Sano had launched a ball out of the park. As he stood in in the fifth inning, the Twins' oversized slugger was 1-for-12 with six strikeouts since returning from a hamstring injury. But a 1-1 middle-of-the-plate fastball from KC starter Jakob Junis changed that; Sano clobbered it over the center-field wall, just beyond the reach of Jon Jay's glove.
An inning later, after Lynn gave up the lead on a two-run double by Mike Moustakas, Dozier came to the plate with Mitch Garver on second base and two outs. He looped a shallow fly ball in front of Jorge Solar, driving in the tie-breaking run.
And in the eighth, Eddie Rosario, with only two RBIs in 14 games, came to the plate with the bases loaded and quickly cleared them, doubling on a ball that Solar couldn't reach. The Twins even added a couple more in the ninth, with Robbie Grossman providing the RBI hit, runs that became more important when Rodney allowed a Solar home run to narrow the gap again.
Lynn had hoped to build on his one-walk performance last week against Detroit, but he walked three batters in six inning, forcing him to constantly work with runners on base. A fifth-inning rally built on one of Jon Jay's three doubles, a walk to Merrifield and Moustakas' two-run double could have KO'd him, but he retired the next six batters in a row to finish with six strong innings.
