MINNEAPOLIS _ There was a murmured "oooh," a barely audible groan at Target Field, when Brian Dozier let Danny Duffy's first pitch go by in the first inning Wednesday.
What a letdown. No first-pitch heroics for baseball's hottest home run hitter.
Dozier eventually struck out, though he took a home-run cut on a curveball for strike three, and for the first time in almost a week, he didn't smash a home run, at least in his first four trips to the plate.
But something else was unusual about Wednesday's game against the Royals, too: The Twins held a lead. Robbie Grossman hit his 10th home run of the season, Minnesota scored two runs in the seventh inning, and the Twins toppled the Royals 6-5. They beat the reigning world champions for the first time since Aug. 13, and only for the third time in 16 meetings, stopping a seven-game losing streak to Kansas City.
Kyle Gibson, 1-7 at home this season, pitched six innings and allowed four runs, and surrendered solo home runs to a pair of former Twins, Drew Butera and Kendrys Morales.
He also made some Twins history in the first inning. Jarryd Dyson led off the game with a single to right field, but was quickly picked off by the right-hander. Then Paul Orlando singled to center, and again Gibson picked him off first base. Only once before in franchise history _ Roger Erickson, on May 23, 1978 against Texas _ had a pitcher nabbed two runners in the same inning.
The Twins scored in the first inning on an RBI single by Grossman, then added another on Byron Buxton's smart base running in the fifth. Buxton doubled, and when Miguel Sano hit a two-out grounder to shortstop Alcides Escobar, Buxton hustled to third and rounded the bag. When Escobar's throw pulled Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer off the bag, Buxton sped up and raced home, sliding safely under Butera's tag.
Buxton later hit a solo homer in the eighth inning.
