Cole De Vries had a couple of key strikeouts during what could have been the inning that doomed him to defeat against the Kansas City Royals, allowing him to escape further damage and keep the game tied up.

He couldn’t remember what he threw to either of the batters.

“The whole thing is a blur,” he said, “to be honest with you.”

That’s because Minnesota responded to the Royals’ three runs with three of their own the next half inning, helping De Vries pick up his first major league win with a 10-7 victory Monday night.

“It feels awesome,” said De Vries, a former undrafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

De Vries (1-1) got a whole lot of help.

Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham each hit two-run homers, and Trevor Plouffe also went deep. Jamey Carroll reached base four times with two RBIs, and Ben Revere also drove in two runs.

“It shows we can ad lib a little bit,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who was forced into a makeshift lineup when Joe Mauer showed up at the ballpark with a sore thumb. “We can pop a baseball, and I’ve always said if our pitcher gives us a chance, we can win some games.”

The Twins have won six of their last seven, to be exact.

The Twins led 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Mike Moustakas followed a pair of singles to start the inning with an RBI double. Jeff Francoeur proceeded to slap a grounder to Minnesota shortstop Brian Dozier, who let the ball go right through the wickets for a run.

Hosmer was next to bat and hit a grounder at second baseman Alexi Casilla, who stumbled all over himself for another error. The Royals wound up tying the game on the play.

De Vries ended the rally with the two key strikeouts.

“When something like that happens, someone has to pick it up,” he said. “I was happy to be able to do that, pick it up for the guys.”

Morneau broke the tie with his two-run shot off Will Smith (1-2), who was also making his third big league start. Plouffe’s homer moments later restored the three-run cushion.

The Twins survived two runs in the ninth by Kansas City, and Matt Capps got Johnny Giavotella to ground out with the tying run on deck to finish it.

Moustakas homered and had a pair of doubles with two RBIs, and Eric Hosmer also drove in two runs for the Royals, providing them with at least a few bright spots.

The error by shortstop by Alcides Escobar in the first inning certainly wasn’t one of them. Nor was the stretch of three walks issued by Royals pitchers in the sixth inning.

Smith was charged with seven runs on eight hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings, a somewhat sobering performance after he allowed two runs over six frames his last time out.

“I thought he threw the ball OK at times. His ball would start on the corner and just drift back to the middle of the plate,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “They put the good end of the bat on it and drove it into the seats.”

Enough times to make De Vries a winner for the first time.

“I was impressed he was able to hang in there,” Gardenhire said. “Any time you get an opportunity to celebrate y our first career win, it’s a special deal.”

— Associated Press —

Alex Gordon and Brayan Pena combined on a play at the plate to preserve a shutout for Vin Mazzaro and three Royals relievers.

Mazzaro went six innings to help Kansas City beat up on punchless Oakland again. The Athletics are hitting .209 on the season and have been shut out in three of their past four games. The Royals sent the A’s to their 10th loss in 11 games.

In the fifth inning, Josh Reddick hit a foul fly ball that Gordon caught near the seats. Adam Rosales tagged up at third, as Gordon let fly. The throw beat Rosales, who tried but failed to jar the ball loose from Pena.

No luck.

“It was just a reaction play,” Gordon said. “I thought it was in the stands when he hit it. It kind of crossed my mind should I catch it or let it drop. It was just one of those bang-bang plays. I caught it, bobbled it and just tried to chuck it over (Rosales’) head a little bit. I put it right there. It was definitely a good time of the game for that to happen. It gave us some momentum.”

Gordon, who moved from third base to the outfield only two years ago, won a Gold Glove last year.

“I thought that was a phenomenal play,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “I thought the ball was going to be in the stands. The thing that was impressive was Alex didn’t give up on it. He caught the ball on the dead run and made a tremendous throw to the plate over the runner. That was a good hit Pena took. The runner had time to plow into him.”

Eric Hosmer homered and Mazzaro (2-0), who pitched for the A’s from 2009-10 before being traded to the Royals, allowed four singles, walked three and struck out three.

Mazzaro escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first after giving up singles to Collin Cowgill and Reddick and walking Kila Ka’aihue. Brandon Inge grounded out to end the inning.

“I thought we had our opportunities early and we didn’t score,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Mazzaro got better as the game went along. (Tommy) Milone pitched the way he’s been pitching all year. He got in some jams a couple of times. But you give up two runs, you keep your team in the game with a chance to win. You expect to score at least two runs every game.”

Relievers Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland and Jonathan Broxton gave up one hit in one inning each to complete the Royals’ fifth shutout of the year. Broxton got his 13th save in 15 opportunities.

Hosmer homered to center field leading off the second against Milone (6-5). It was Hosmer’s first home run of the season off a left-handed pitcher.

The Royals got another run in the fifth when Johnny Giavotella’s single scored Jarrod Dyson, who started the inning with a single and stole second.

Milone gave up eight hits in seven innings and matched his career high with six strikeouts. He tossed eight scoreless innings and allowed three hits to beat the Royals 1-0 on April 9 in his A’s debut.

Oakland’s Cliff Pennington went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice bunt and is hitless in his past 29 at-bats, the longest drought of his career.

— Associated Press —