Dyson Scores On Sac Fly To Lift Royals Past Twins
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Jarrod Dyson scored on a sacrifice fly in the eighth as the Kansas City Royals rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 Friday night to snap a six-game losing streak.
Kansas City trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth when Wilson Betemit doubled with one out and moved to third on Kila Ka'ahiue's single. After Dyson ran for Ka'ahiue, Betemit scored on catcher Drew Butera's throwing error to second with Dyson advancing to third.
Dyson then came home on Alcides Escobar's pop up to shallow left that shortstop Alexi Casilla caught with his back to the infield.
Blake Wood (1-0) worked 1 2-3 scoreless and Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
Alex Burnett (0-1), just called up from Triple-A Rochester, took the loss.
Twins starter Scott Baker held the Royals to two runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings, lowering his ERA to 3.16. He was replaced after Chris Getz's single in the seventh drove in Brayan Pena to pull the Royals to 3-2.
Danny Valencia, who was 2 for 18 on the Twins' recent homestand, doubled to the left-center gap off left-hander Bruce Chen to score Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau, who had both singled, to put Minnesota up 3-1 in the sixth.
Chen gave up three runs, eight hits and two walks in 5 1-3 innings.
Luke Hughes homered in the fifth to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.
The Royals tied it in the bottom of the inning when Alex Gordon's two-out triple into the right-field corner scored Melky Cabrera, who had singled.
Both teams missed opportunities to score in the fourth. Jason Kubel led off the top of the inning with a double off the center-field fence. He stopped at third on Michael Cuddyer's single to left with one out. Chen got Valencia on a pop up and Rene Tosoni on a grounder to short.
Jeff Francoeur was hit by a pitch from Baker with one out in the bottom of the inning and advanced to second on Ka'aihue's single to right. Francoeur attempted to score on Pena's single to right, but was thrown out at the plate by Kubel.
Francoeur went 0 for 3 to snap his career-high 17-game hitting streak, which was the longest active streak in the American League.
NOTES: Twins DH Jim Thome, who did not play in the series against Tampa Bay because of a strained oblique, took batting practice and could be available Saturday. ... Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson met Friday with LHP Francisco Lirano, who is 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in five starts. They showed him diagrams of his inconsistent release point and talked to him about his confidence. "We'd like to get (Liriano) going, but it's not 'he's got one more start,"' Gardenhire said. "He's too good of a pitcher for that. The young man has great stuff. We're going to give him every opportunity to go out there and find himself." ... Twins RHP Kevin Slowey, sidelined by shoulder bursitis, is scheduled to throw 65-70 pitches Monday in a rehab start in Florida. ... Royals RHP Robinson Tejeda, who went on the disabled list April 14 with shoulder inflammation, is scheduled to throw batting practice Saturday.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
