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Royals rally late to top Twins

Apr 30, 2011 - 4:33 AM Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Jarrod Dyson raced home on a short pop-up to shallow left field, capping a two-run eighth inning and lifting the Kansas City Royals to a 4-3 win over Minnesota in the opener of a three-game series.

On base as a pinch runner after Kila Ka'aihue singled, Dyson's hustle led to both Kansas City runs in the inning. He stole second base, leading to a bad throw by Twins catcher Drew Butera that scored Wilson Betemit from third base.

Dyson moved to third on the play and tagged up after Twins shortstop Alexi Casilla fielded Alcides Escobar's short pop-up in shallow left. Escobar's momentum carried him away from the infield and his leaping throw was late to home plate.

Blake Wood (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings for the win and Joakim Soria threw a perfect ninth for his sixth save. Alex Burnett (0-1) took the loss in 1 2/3 innings of relief for Minnesota.

The Royals snapped a six-game losing streak after being swept by Texas and Cleveland on a road trip.

"It's almost like you forgot what it felt like to win a game when you drop six like that on the road," said Royals second baseman Chris Getz. "But one thing we had going for us is we're looking forward to getting home. We have been playing pretty well at home. Obviously we've been coming back a lot."

The Twins lost their fourth straight game, a stretch that includes being swept in a day-night doubleheader by Tampa Bay on Thursday.

"We just don't have any pitching right now," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "We needed as many (innings from starter Scott Baker) as we possibly could. We stretched him out as long as we possibly could, then we went to our other bullet to get us to the ninth and that was Burnett."

Kansas City starter Bruce Chen went 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks. Baker went 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and a walk.

Despite those subpar pitching lines, this game was scoreless until the fifth.

Luke Hughes belted his first homer of the season in the fifth, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead with a blast into the left-center field seats off Chen. Alex Gordon tripled to score Melky Cabrera in the bottom of the fifth, tying the game for Kansas City.

Minnesota rallied for a 3-1 lead in the sixth, sparked by back-to-back singles from Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau leading off. Danny Valencia doubled both runners in with one out, and Chen was pulled for Louis Coleman after giving up a single to Rene Tosoni.

Brayan Pena doubled leading off the seventh for Kansas City and Baker was yanked for Burnett after Getz delivered an RBI double to get the Royals within 3-2.

Betemit sparked Kansas City's rally in the eighth, doubling with one out and moving to third on Ka'aihue's single.

Game Notes

The Twins were coming off a 2-3 road trip that was shortened from seven games to five by a pair of weather postponements. They started a nine-game road trip that will also include treks to Chicago and Boston...The Royals started a nine-game homestand that also includes visits from the Orioles and Athletics.