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Royals use eight-run eighth to rout Twins

May 1, 2011 - 3:38 AM Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Alex Gordon belted a three-run homer to highlight an eight-run eighth inning, as the Kansas City Royals pulled away for an 11-2 victory over Minnesota, pushing the Twins' losing streak to a season-high five games.

The Royals have captured the first two games of this three-game series on the heels of a six-game losing streak.

They sent 12 batters to the plate during their eighth-inning rally, getting five of their 13 hits during the frame. Gordon's second homer of the season was the big blow, a two-out blast deep over the right field wall.

"A really ugly inning where a lot of bad things happened -- too many to even talk about," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire.

Sean O'Sullivan started for Kansas City, but didn't factor in the decision after an up-and-down outing. Pitching on little sleep, he yielded just two runs and two hits, but walked seven with three strikeouts.

"In the bullpen I didn't feel real strong. I spent most of the night bent over a toilet, a little bit of a food virus," said O'Sullivan. "Things were pretty weak out there, so I tried to battle as much as I could."

Nathan Adcock (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh and earned the win after Chris Getz tripled and scored on Mike Aviles' sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning gave the Royals a 3-2 lead.

Kansas City scored three runs -- two earned -- against Minnesota starter Brian Duensing (2-1), who went seven innings and yielded eight hits and two walks while striking out six.

The Royals broke the dam against relievers Joe Nathan, Jose Mijares and Jim Hoey in the eighth.

Aaron Crow and Jeremy Jeffress followed Adcock, pitching two perfect innings for a Kansas City staff that allowed just three hits in the game.

The Twins committed two errors, went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight players on base. They finished 9-17 in April and will look to avoid being swept in the series finale Sunday.

They have been outscored 44-11 during their five-game slide.

"It was just another night when we didn't hit the ball," said a frustrated Gardenhire.

"It's time to get busy and start playing the way we know how to play. ... There's a lot of disappointed men out there and a little frustration, too. Tonight kind of topped it all off. As I told them, we'll come back here tomorrow. We'll be 0-0 and go from there. We don't like to lose around here. We haven't done that very much and this can't go on."

The Royals took the lead for good after Getz sliced a triple past diving left fielder Rene Tosoni, then scored on Aviles' sacrifice fly to Tosoni three pitches later.

But they didn't blow the game open until the eighth. The rally was sparked by Billy Butler's leadoff double against Nathan and punctuated about a half-hour later by Jeff Francoeur's RBI double to make it 11-2.

O'Sullivan was shaky in the first inning and let the first three batters of the game on base to spark a two-run rally that was extended by Aviles' throwing error from third base.

Michael Cuddyer was trying to turn a double play in the third inning when he bounced a throw to first for an error, allowing Matt Treanor to score to get the Royals within 2-1.

Butler led off the fourth with his third homer of the season, belting a 1-0 fastball into the waterfall behind left-center field to tie the game at 2-2.

Game Notes

The Twins fell to 4-1 when Duensing starts this season...The Royals are 2-0 on nine-game homestand that also includes visits from the Orioles and Athletics...Minnesota is 0-2 on nine-game road trip that will also include treks to Chicago and Boston.