Sweeney, Royals Blast Twins

Listening to the roar of the fans, Jermaine Dye wondered if he was in Kansas City.

A noisy, high-energy crowd of more than 40,000 Kauffman Stadium's biggest in 12 years went wild Friday as the Royals rallied from a six-run deficit to beat Minnesota 10-6 in their home opener.

Forgotten, at least for a day, were the sparse and disinterested gatherings of recent years that had caused many players to wonder if anyone really cared.

"It was a great atmosphere out there," said Dye, whose three-run homer in the seventh pulled the Royals within a run. "I haven't seen that in a long time here. The fans were really into the game. It seemed like we were at a Yankee game where the fans were chanting, `Let's go Royals.' "

After Dye's wind-aided home run off Bob Wells made it 6-5, Mike Sweeney fouled off six two-strike pitches before hitting a solo shot that tied it 6-all.

"When you have 40,000-plus people cheering for you, it's a special feeling," Sweeney said.

Before the game, Sweeney was talking with catcher Brian Johnson, who played college football.

"I said, `Man, does this feel like a football crowd at Stanford? I want to put on shoulder pads and hit somebody,' " Sweeney said. "There's an excitement in the air, the enthusiasm, the buzz of the crowd. To come back and win for that huge crowd is an awesome feeling."

Even Minnesota manager Tom Kelly admired Sweeney's at-bat against Wells.

"Wellsy didn't back off, and Sweeney stayed in there with him and ended up tying the game," Kelly said. "Then things got kind of ugly in the last inning."

Sweeney's homer off Miller came on a 2-0 count.

"I was just trying to get back in the count with a fastball, and I left it up," Miller said.

Sweeney and Dye each were 3-for-5. Sweeney wound up with two homers and four RBIs while Dye had three RBIs.

Chris Fussell (1-0) got his first major league win, allowing two runs both unearned and six hits in four innings.

In his first major league start, 21-year-old Johan Santana gave up one run and five hits in five innings, leaving with a 6-1 lead that Wells couldn't hold.

Johnson's fifth-inning homer started the comeback and an error by third baseman Corey Koskie on Joe Randa's grounder allowed Kansas City's second run in the sixth.

Royals starter Mac Suzuki, 2-5 with a 6.79 ERA last season, gave up four runs, six hits and three walks in four innings, striking out five.

Jacque Jones had an RBI grounder in a four-run second and Guzman tripled in three runs for a 4-0 lead, lining a ball into the left-center gap and sliding under the throw from center fielder Carlos Beltran.

Fussell threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the fifth and Jones homered to make it 6-0.

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