MINNEAPOLIS – Joe Mays pitched eight sharp innings and the Minnesota Twins beat Kansas City 3-1 Monday night, sending the Royals to their seventh straight loss.
Mays (4-3) allowed six hits, struck out three and did not walk a batter for Minnesota, which won consecutive games for first time since taking three straight June 5-8. The right-hander had been winless in six starts since shutting out the Blue Jays 4-0 on May 19.
Joe Nathan worked a scoreless ninth for his 19th save in 21 opportunities.
David DeJesus homered and Emil Brown extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games for the Royals, who are 0-7 on their nine-game road trip. Kansas City has scored just 21 runs on the trip.
Zack Greinke (1-9) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. The Royals fell to 3-13 in his starts.
The Twins scored twice in the second inning. Torii Hunter hit a one-out single and advanced to second on Greinke’s errant pickoff attempt. Jacque Jones followed with an RBI single.
Jones stole third on the next pitch and scored on Lew Ford’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Royals had a great chance in the seventh when Brown led off with a single and John Buck hit a two-out double to put runners on second and third. But Mays got Shane Costa to ground out.
Kansas City finally scored in the eighth on DeJesus’ 427-foot shot off Mays, his fourth homer.
Glenn Williams added an RBI single off Jimmy Gobble in the bottom half, making it 3-1.
The Twins played solid defense all around, making several diving plays in the infield and outfield.
Notes: The Twins have signed their third-round selection from the 2005 draft, pitcher Brian Duensing out of Nebraska. He will be assigned to rookie ball at Elizabethton of the Appalachian League. … Williams has hit safely in all 12 games to start his career. … Hunter has hit safely in 18 of 23 June games. … The Royals have held opponents to three runs or fewer in 10 of manager Buddy Bell’s 25 games, but this was the first time they lost. … The Royals are 0-6 against the Twins this season.
AP-ES-06-27-05 2229EDT
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