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Bannister, Gordon carry Royals over Twins

Sep 2, 2007 - 10:14 PM By Brian Hall PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Two Kansas City Royals' rookies are proving they belong in the major leagues and providing the long-struggling franchise some hope for the future.

Brian Bannister worked eight strong innings and Alex Gordon had his first career multi-homer game as the Royals took Sunday's finale of a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins, 8-1.

The win sealed a split of the set for Kansas City, which improved to 6-5 in its last 11 games.

"We really needed this one, considering the way we have played the last two games," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.

Bannister (12-7), who entered the game leading all rookie pitchers with a 3.27 ERA and was second to Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka in wins, earned his fourth straight victory, and seventh in eight decisions.

"The way the team is playing behind me, if they give me six, eight runs every night, you can ask me about it in a couple of weeks," Bannister said of his chances for the Rookie of the Year award.

Gordon hit the first of his two homers on the day leading off the second inning against Twins' starter Boof Bonser (6-12). Kansas City built off Gordon's shot with four more runs in a decisive frame.

Shane Costa, John Buck, and Joey Gathright had successive singles to score the second run of the inning. David DeJesus added a two-run double to right field and Gload finished off the scoring, chasing Bonser from the game with an RBI single.

"It all starts with your starter and he didn't give us anything today," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said.

"We got in a deep hole, and Bannister's been throwing very good for the Royals, and he did that again today. He moves the ball in-and-out, uses all of his pitches, and never gave us a chance to even get back in the ballgame."

Bonser went 1 2/3 innings for the shortest outing of his career. He gave up five runs and seven hits and did not record a strikeout, the first time this season he has failed to do so.

The righthander has one win in his last 11 decisions, with a 5.56 ERA over that span.

"It was just one of those were I had command of absolutely nothing," Bonser said. "The fastball was up in the zone, no off-speed. There was absolutely nothing."

Bannister has been strong since losing three straight in May, and Gordon - the second overall pick in the 2005 draft - might just be finding his place in the majors.

Gordon, who also homered on Saturday, added another solo shot leading off the third, his 14th of the year.

"He is just another kid that keeps getting better defensively and offensively," Bell said. "It's not even as consistent as you are going to see here in the next year or so."

Bannister started September much the same way he finished the past few months. He finished with a run and six hits allowed.

The righthander made the early run support stand as he retired seven straight batters at one point. Bannister faced more than four batters just once in his first seven innings, not allowing a walk to go along with one strikeout and one hit-by-pitch.

The 26-year-old has won the team's pitcher of the month award for three straight months, the first Royals' pitcher since Jeff Montgomery in 1987 to accomplish the feat.

"I was hitting my spots with all four pitches," Bannister said. "Usually one stands out, and tonight I was able to be consistent with all four of them, fastball, slider, curve, and changeup."

Kansas City catcher John Buck topped the scoring with a two-run homer in the ninth.

The Twins' struggling offense was again held in check. Luis Rodriguez drove in the lone run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth, scoring Mike Redmond, who had singled leading off the inning and went to third on a base hit by Garrett Jones.

Minnesota dropped to 10 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central as the two teams open a three-game set Monday at the Metrodome. The Twins remained 7 1/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the wild card.

"We need to sweep them," Gardenhire said of the Indians. "Anything other than that doesn't really do you any good.

"It's been desperate for a while around here."