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Gordon's homer lifts Royals over Twins

Aug 2, 2007 - 4:42 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - Alex Gordon hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning to help the Kansas City Royals outlast the Minnesota Twins, 5-3, on Wednesday.

Billy Butler had two singles and scored twice, including on Gordon's two-out blast off Twins reliever Juan Rincon (3-2). Butler also plated the tying run in the eighth inning.

Zack Greinke (5-5) worked two perfect innings of relief to help the Royals snap a two-game skid and end Minnesota's four-game winning streak. However, Kansas City won't be attempting to split the series on Thursday as originally scheduled.

The Interstate 35W bridge crossing the Mississippi River just blocks from the Metrodome collapsed approximately an hour before Wednesday's contest, prompting the Twins to postpone both Thursday's game and the groundbreaking ceremony for their new stadium.

"I travel that bridge every day to the ballpark back and forth and went there today," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those folks around the bridge and everyone they are trying to save people's lives and the families awaiting word yet.

"That's where all of our thoughts were tonight. The ballgame had to be played. I don't think a lot of us wanted to be out there, but it was the right thing to do."

Twins president Dave St. Peter said the Twins decided to play Wednesday night's game after dialogue with the Department of Public Safety. It was in the best interest of the first responders to play the game rather than forcing the announced crowd of 24,880 back onto the streets.

But with their minds elsewhere, the Twins managed to take a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning before the Royals crawled back against Minnesota's bullpen.

Butler started the frame with a single off reliever Pat Neshek and moved to second on Mark Teahen's sacrifice bunt. Butler reached third base when left fielder Lew Ford attempted to throw behind him following Gordon's flyout but threw the ball past second baseman Alexi Casilla. Reliever Matt Guerrier then threw a wild pitch to Jason Smith, allowing Butler to score.

Butler singled off Rincon with one out in the 10th inning, setting up Gordon's heroics.

The home run capped off an emotional day, as Kansas City manager Buddy Bell had announced earlier in the day that he would be stepping down at the end of the season to spend more time with his family.

"The best way we can send him off is to keep improving and have a good end of the year and send him off the right way," Gordon said.

"Buddy's announcement kind of takes a back seat to what is going on in the city," Teahen said. "But there was a lot of emotion on this day."

Joakim Soria worked around a leadoff walk to shut the door, earning his 11th save of the season and first since reclaiming the closer role from Octavio Dotel, who was traded on Thursday. Soria's last save came on May 22.

Twins starter Boof Bonser gave the Twins their fifth straight quality start, yet failed to pick up a win in his ninth consecutive outing. His last win came on June 10 against Washington.

Bonser allowed two runs on eight hits with no walks and four strikeouts, marking the third straight game Minnesota's starters have not issued a free pass.

But again, his personal bad luck was overshadowed by the day's tragic events.

"It would have been nice to win, but with what happened, I can't imagine what other people are going through," Bonser said.

Bonser escaped a two-on, one-out jam unscathed in the second inning, but the Royals got to him in the fourth.

Teahen started the frame with a bunt single - his first hit of the series - and advanced to third two batters later. John Buck plated Teahen with a fielder's choice, and after Joey Gathright hit an infield single, David DeJesus singled home Buck to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Bonser settled down from there, retiring eight straight before DeJesus singled again in the seventh.

Third baseman Brian Buscher scored Minnesota's first run in the third inning, coming home from third on Jason Bartlett's two-out infield single off Royals starter Brian Bannister. In the fourth, the Twins got some help from Gathright.

Gathright, who was recalled from Class AAA Omaha prior to the game because Reggie Sanders was placed on the disabled list, struggled in left field. He misplayed Justin Morneau's fly ball in the first inning that was catchable despite being ruled a double.

In the fourth frame, Gathright suffered from deja vu to as Mauer led off with another catchable fly ball that rolled to the wall and was ruled a double. This time it hurt the Royals, as Mauer scored from third on Jason Kubel's two-out single.

"I know when I'm out there in batting practice I can't see a thing, so I give no fault to Joey on those couple plays," Bannister said. "If you hit a low liner right in those lights ... it's impossible to see. But we hung in there, got the extra out and made it through."

Bannister retired six of the next seven batters he faced, but Torii Hunter led off the seventh inning with a double to right field and he scored the next at-bat on Kubel's single.

Bannister failed to earn a win for the first time in his last three starts, allowing three runs on eight hits. He had allowed just one earned run in his previous 14 innings. Still, he was excited about his performance.

"I had a little extra out there," Bannister said. "I was fired up a couple times and they were fired up. It was fun. It's probably one of the most fun games I've ever pitched in."

But Bannister certainly understood the difficulty that Minnesota had playing after the day's events.

"In all perspective, all we do is play a game. It's really meaningless in comparison to the loss of life and tragedy families are facing today in Minnesota," Bannister said. "I think as athletes at times we can give hope and make people forget about what is actually going on, and I think we did that tonight."