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Royals blank Twins

Apr 19, 2014 - 5:04 AM Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Moustakas stroked a two-run homer in the sixth inning as the Kansas City Royals shut out the Minnesota Twins, 5-0, in the opener of a three-game series.

Omar Infante supplied two hits and two RBI as the Royals won their fourth straight game. Eric Hosmer contributed two hits and drove in a run in the triumph.

Jason Vargas (2-0) spun seven scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and one walk to go with four strikeouts.

"I expect to go out every time and give us a chance to win," Vargas said. "I definitely feel like I'm capable of going out there and continue to pitch like this."

Josmil Pinto had two hits for the Twins, who entered the game as winners in five of their last six. Starter Ricky Nolasco (1-2) was tagged for all five runs on 11 hits with three strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings.

"There were some guys on base, hit a couple balls hard that put the game out of reach," Nolasco said.

With one out gone in the third, Alcides Escobar drove a line-drive double to left. Nori Aoki came up next and sliced a single over to third to put runners on the corners. Infante then singled on a soft ground ball to Nolasco that brought around Escobar to open the scoring for the Royals. Hosmer singled on a sharp liner to right to score Aoki and make it a 2-0 game.

Escobar singled to left with one out in the fifth. Two batters later, Infante drove in Escobar with a line drive to right for a 3-0 advantage.

The Royals tacked on two more runs in the sixth. Billy Butler got on base with a one-out single and Moustakas drove a deep fly ball out to right field for a home run.

Game Notes

The Royals snapped a three-game skid to the Twins ... Minnesota went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base ... The Royals brought home four of their eight baserunners who were in scoring position.