Twins 2, Royals 0

MINNEAPOLIS – Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter through six, finishing with seven shutout innings for the Minnesota Twins in a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Desi Relaford lined a clean single to left leading off the seventh to end Santana’s bid. Still, the AL’s Pitcher of the Month for July and August won his ninth straight start and further strengthened his credentials as a Cy Young candidate.

Santana (16-6) gave up one hit and one walk, striking out 11 and throwing 106 pitches. J.C. Romero worked the eighth to extend his club-record scoreless streak to 32 1-3 innings, and Joe Nathan pitched a perfect ninth for his 38th save in 41 chances to finish the two-hitter.

Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau hit consecutive home runs in the sixth and Shannon Stewart went 3-for-4 for the Twins, who are 29-18 since the All-Star break and entered with a nine-game lead in the AL Central.

The Royals, who were in first place as late as Aug. 30 last season, are 281/2 games back. Starter Darrell May was tagged with his major-league leading 16th loss.

Santana struck out every batter in Kansas City’s depleted lineup at least once. He struck out the side in the seventh after Relaford singled and Joe Randa reached when Michael Cuddyer dropped a throw at second base.

Abraham Nunez and Angel Berroa were the last two victims. Each went back to the bench looking silly after swinging way ahead of one of Santana’s renowned changeups.

In his last 17 starts, Santana is an incredible 14-2 with a 1.57 ERA and 163 strikeouts. He’s allowed only 61 hits and 25 walks in 126 1-3 innings. He lowered his ERA for the season to 2.95 and raised his AL-leading strikeout total to 224.

Kansas City’s last 29 hits have all been singles, one shy of the club record set in September 2000.

With the way Santana has been pitching and the way the Royals have been hitting, the result was hardly surprising. Calvin Pickering, whose fifth-inning homer on Monday against Detroit was Kansas City’s last extra-base hit, lined a smash to center field to lead off the third – but Hunter, a three-time Gold Glove winner, snared it with a diving catch.

Nobody else came close to a hit after that until Relaford’s spoiling single in the seventh. Berroa became the first baserunner by drawing a two-out walk in the fifth, but Santana followed it by striking out Pickering.

May, who gave up 20 runs in his last three starts, did his best to give the Royals a chance at their first three-game winning streak since mid-July. He gave up nine hits, two runs and one walk in six innings while striking out two.

Notes: Twins 2B Luis Rivas had the nails removed from both of his big toes before the game. They’ve given him problems all season. … The Royals reinstated OF Dee Brown (ribcage) from the 15-day disabled list before the game following a rehab assignment with Triple-A Omaha. Brown wasn’t in the lineup, but he is 10-for-25 with a grand slam and six RBIs against the Twins this year. … Minnesota’s last no-hitter was on Sept. 11, 1999, when Eric Milton shut down Anaheim.

AP-ES-09-03-04 2252EDT