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Perez homers twice as Royals handle Twins

Aug 29, 2013 - 5:06 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Salvador Perez went 4-for-5 with a pair of two-run home runs as the Kansas City Royals took an 8-1 win over the Minnesota Twins in the second of a three-game series.

Alex Gordon hit a solo homer and scored twice, while Billy Butler drove in two and scored twice for the Royals, who have won their past four games. Danny Duffy (2-0) pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and striking out seven to win his second straight start.

"We went through a tough stretch where we lost seven in a row," said Perez. "We spent some time looking at the scoreboard then and that didn't help. Now we're just going about controlling what we can."

Andrew Albers (2-2) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits in seven innings for the Twins, who have dropped their past four contests. Justin Morneau's solo homer in the ninth accounted for the only run for the club.

"We're just not scoring," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "We're striking out way too many times and we're not getting any big hits with men out there. We have nothing offensively going on out there right now."

Gordon got the Royals on the board in the third with a two-out solo shot, and Perez clubbed his first homer of the game in the fourth after Butler reached base on a bad throw from Trevor Plouffe for a 3-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the eighth when Butler singled in a run and scored when Perez followed with his ninth homer of the year for a 6-0 advantage.

An RBI single from Butler and run-scoring double play by Perez in the ninth made it an 8-0 game, before Morneau hit his 16th homer of the season with one out in the ninth to break up the shutout.

Minnesota had gotten just one runner to third base prior to Morneau's home run.

Game Notes

Kansas City has taken 14 of the 18 games with Minnesota this season ... The Twins were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded five ... Minnesota struck out 10 times in the game, and has struck out 1,127 times this season, a new club record. The old record was 1,121 set in 1997.