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Barrage of homers help Royals to first winning streak

Apr 21, 2007 - 3:49 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The Kansas City Royals are glad to be home.

The Royals used homers from Mark Grudzielanek, Mark Sweeney and Reggie Sanders to post an 11-7 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the first game of a five-game homestand.

After beating Detroit, 4-3, in 10 innings Thursday, Kansas City established its first winning streak of the season after going just 2-7 on a road trip against Toronto, Baltimore and Detroit.

Sweeney sliced a 2-0 lead in half with his first homer of the season in the second and Grudzielanek hit his first during a five-run fifth inning that gave the Royals a 7-4 lead.

The Twins cut the lead to 7-6 on a two-run single by Nick Punto in the following inning.

However, in the seventh, Sanders homered to give the Royals an 8-6 edge. The left fielder wore number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson in the Royals first home game since Sunday's rainout against Baltimore. Kansas City then loaded the bases in the eighth with no outs and tacked on three more runs.

The Royals' offensive outburst helped Odalis Perez (1-2) pick up his first win of the season. The lefthander allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings.

Sidney Ponson (1-2), who had been 6-1 in his last seven start vs. the Royals, took the loss by allowing six run and six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 and Michael Cuddyer hit his second homer in the ninth for the Minnesota, which was coming off a three-game sweep of Seattle.