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Slowey sharp as Twins keep pace in AL Central

Sep 11, 2008 - 4:40 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Kevin Slowey figured it out early, made the adjustment and led the Minnesota Twins to a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the Metrodome on Wednesday.

The victory kept Minnesota (80-65) just one game back of the Chicago White Sox (81-64) in the American League Central Division. The White Sox held on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, on Wednesday night.

After allowing a run on two hits in the first inning, the 24-year-old righthander stopped overthrowing and gave up just two more hits in his final six frames to hold the Royals to one run for the third time this season.

Jason Kubel drove in two runs and scored another as the Twins won consecutive games for the first time since winning four straight from August 19-22.

"None of us (starting pitchers) have really been in a position where we're trying to chase somebody down in the last three weeks of the season," Slowey said. "I think we're able to just kind of go out there and pitch and enjoy ourselves and enjoy each others' company and do our best.

"We're not looking two weeks down the line or three weeks down the line and, whether or not we're going to make the playoffs. I think us all being this young is helping us out right now."

Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez both drove in a run and scored for the Twins, while Gomez also stole his 30th base of the season.

Kansas City starter Kyle Davies (6-7) lost for the fifth time in his last six starts, allowing four runs, eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

Slowey (12-9) bounced back from a loss in his last outing to win for the fifth time in his last seven starts, protecting a bullpen that has been anything but reliable in September as the Twins try to chase down the White Sox. Boof Bonser and Craig Breslow each worked a scoreless inning to finish the game.

After giving up two straight singles to start the game, Slowey allowed just a pair of doubles through his seven innings with one walk and two strikeouts. Slowey is 5-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his last seven appearances.

"Early in the game, he didn't have a good feel for his breaking ball and he started finding it as the game went along," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We were hoping he'd figure things and he did. I think that's where he's progressed and a lot of our young pitchers have."

He is 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA in three starts against the Royals this season.

"Uncharacteristically, we actually got a walk tonight," Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said.

A sacrifice fly from David DeJesus in the first inning gave Kansas City an early lead, but Minnesota's offense rallied in the next two frames.

Kubel singled to lead off the second inning and scored on Gomez's two-out single to tie the game at 1-1. Kubel drove in Alexi Casilla with a ground-rule double in the third inning, and Young's groundout plated Joe Mauer one batter later to give Minnesota a two-run cushion.

Punto's two-out bloop single scored Young in the sixth inning, and the Twins added two more with no outs in the seventh when Leo Nunez threw wildly to first on Casilla's sacrifice bunt, allowing Gomez to score from second base and Denard Span to come home from first. Kubel's two-out single three batters later brought home Casilla to give the Twins a six-run advantage.

Slowey stranded runners in scoring position in the second and fifth innings, setting down nine batters in a row between doubles from Mark Teahen and Ross Gload.

"Kevin can slow the game down, slow himself down and figure it out," Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "He came in after the first inning without me having to tell him and said, 'What am I doing? I throw 88 to 89 (miles-per-hour) and I'm trying to throw 94.' So, he figured it out and slowed himself down and got back down and pitched with 88."

The Royals lost for the fourth time in their last five games overall and have dropped 12 of their last 14 road games. Kansas City has scored just four runs in its last three contests and fell to 3-11 against Minnesota this season.