Royals 5, Twins 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Dennys Reyes won his first decision in 27 appearances and Carlos Beltran hit a tiebreaking, three-run double that led the Kansas City Royals over the Minnesota Twins 5-2.

Reyes (1-0) had not won since beating Seattle in relief for Texas on Sept. 9, 2002. He had gone six starts without a win since defeating Tampa Bay on Sept. 6. 2002.

He struck out five of his first six batters Saturday and finished with eight in seven innings. He allowed two runs – one earned – and six hits, walking four.

Jeremy Affeldt pitched the ninth for his third save in four chances.

After Matt Stairs tied it 2-all with a solo homer in the seventh, Johan Santana (2-3) gave up a single to Tony Graffanino and a walk to Byron Gettis in the bottom half.

J.C. Romero hit Angel Berroa with an 0-2 pitch, loading the bases for Beltran, who snapped an 0-for-12 skid with a line drive into right-center.

Santana, coming off a three-inning outing that was the shortest of his career, allowed four runs and six hits in 6 10-3 innings. Minnesota lost its third straight.

Ken Harvey’s sixth straight hit, a two-out, RBI double, put Kansas City ahead in the first. Torii Hunter stopped an 0-for-16 skid with a run-scoring double in the fourth that scored Doug Mientkiewicz, who slid home on a close play. Michael Cuddyer tripled for a 2-1 lead.

Cuddyer went 2-for-2 with two walks and has reached in nine straight plate appearances.

Notes: The Twins have lost seven in a row and 14 of 18 when scoring three runs or fewer. … Umpire Charlie Reliford, scheduled to work second base, left because of a death in his family and was replaced by Mike Jost. … C Joe Mauer had one hit in his first game at Triple-A Rochester and the Twins remained confident he would rejoin the team some time next week. He had knee surgery after going on the DL on April 5. … When Santana struck Harvey out with a changeup in the fourth, it was the first time in eight plate appearances the DH/1B had not reached.

AP-ES-05-29-04 1653EDT