Chris Sale was short of his All-Star best. He was still good enough to win his eight straight decision.

Adam Dunn homered in his third straight game and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 Sunday.

Sale (11-2) is 8-0 with two no-decisions since a May 12 loss to the Royals.

He allowed one run and scattered a season-high 10 hits eight innings to lower his earned run average to 2.11, which ranks second on the American League. He struck out four and walked none.

”Obviously, a lot of hits,” Sale said. ”You just try to brush that off and keep going about what you need to do and have that mindset and go out and still make pitches.”

Sale, who is from Florida, liked the 94 degree temperature for the first pitch.

”I’ve always said I like pitching in warm weather way better than cold. It’s definitely nice to have some heat out there today.”

Sale threw 115 pitches, but manager Robin Ventura had no qualms about sending him out for the eighth inning.

”It was his game,” Ventura said. ”He finds a way to get himself into trouble and out of trouble, too.”

Dunn, who leads the league with 28 home runs, drilled a 2-0 pitch from Luis Mendoza (3-6) just inside the right-field pole in the first inning. Dunn has 65 hits overall this season, meaning 43 percent of them have been home runs.

”On 2-0, I was geared up for a fastball and it was a changeup,” Dunn said. ”I just caught it out in front. I don’t hit many of those line drive home runs. I could have easily hooked it foul. That was obviously a positive thing. That’s what we’ve been working on all spring to stay inside of it.”

Addison Reed, who blew a save Friday, worked a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 16 opportunities.

The White Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the second when Alex Rios singled, A.J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch and Dayan Viciedo hit an infield single. They converted that into just one run when Rios scored as Alexei Ramirez grounded into a double play. Mendoza threw but seven pitches to five batters that inning.

Mendoza allowed just one hit after the second inning, but took the loss. He gave up two runs on four hits in 7 1-3 innings, while striking out six and walking four.

The Royals avoided a shutout when Mike Moustakas, who led off the fifth with a single and advanced to second on a Sale wild pitch, scored on a Chris Getz single.

Getz moved to third on Alex Gordon’s single, but was stranded when Alcides Escobar struck out and Butler grounded out.

The Royals went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position against Sale.

”We knew who we had to face today and he was as good as advertised,” Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. ”He has his fastball in the 86 to 95 range and a change of pace and the slurve. His speed is all over the place. With him it’s hard to get that gapper. You’ve got to be patient. You can’t be trying to kill if or he’ll get you with that off-speed every time.”

The AL Central leading White Sox are 7-2 in their past nine games. The Royals lost for the 10th time in 13 games.

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Royals have announced that right-handed pitching prospect Yordano Ventura has been promoted to Class AA Northwest Arkansas.

Ventura started yesterday for the World Team in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game at Kauffman Stadium, tossing a scoreless first inning.

Ventura, 21, was 3-5 with a 3.30 ERA in 16 starts for High-A Wilmington, allowing 66 hits and striking out a league-leading 98 against 28 walks in 76.1 innings.

He tossed a scoreless inning with a walk and a strikeout at the Carolina-California League All-Star Game on June 19.

The 5-foot-11, 167-pound right-hander, who was born and raised in Samana, Dominican Republic, was signed by the Royals as a non-drafted free agent on October 8, 2008.

— Royals Media Relations —

The Detroit Tigers are beginning to get contributions from more than just a few players.

Delmon Young homered for the fourth consecutive game, Prince Fielder hit a three-run shot and Jhonny Peralta homered and drove in three runs in Detroit’s 7-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday to complete a sweep of the three-game weekend series.

Young and Peralta, who were both expected to provide power and production behind Fielder and Miguel Cabrera, have had slow starts. After his homer streak, Young has 10 home runs and 37 RBIs, while Peralta goes into the All-Star Break with only five home runs and 27 RBIs.

Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland discussed the free-swinging Young before the game.

”He’s hitting strikes. That’s been the big difference,” Leyland said. ”He’s getting pitches to hit and he’s hitting ’em.”

He talked about Peralta, who was 3-for-4 with two doubles, after the game.

”He’s pulling the balls he’s supposed to pull. He hasn’t really pulled the ball this year and he’s a pull hitter. I think he was so conscious of swinging at some breaking balls going the other way that he was missing balls that he should pull,” Leyland said. ”Today he pulled the ball. What he needs to do is pull the ball on a more consistent basis and with two strikes, take the ball the other way.”

The power display backed Max Scherzer (8-5), who allowed a run and five hits over seven innings, walking one and striking out seven.

”He was pretty good. He was 96, good run on his fastball,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said about Scherzer. ”He was good. It’s the best we’ve seen him.”

It was the Tigers’ season-high fifth-straight win and put them two games over .500 – heading into the All-Star break – for the first time since April 25 (10-8).

”It’s the consistency. You can look at our team, we’re just playing good team baseball. Everybody’s starting to kind of click, our offense is really starting to produce some runs,” Scherzer said..” Our starting staff is starting to give a lot more quality starts, give them a chance to do their job. Obviously our bullpen’s shutting them down, seven, eight, nine, we’ve got guys for that. You put that together, we’re a pretty good team.”

Phil Coke pitched a perfect eighth and Octavio Dotel worked a perfect ninth.

Salvador Perez homered for Kansas City.

Royals’ starter Everett Teaford (1-2) took the loss. He allowed five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked a batter and struck out five.

Peralta’s two-out, two-run homer in the second inning gave Detroit a 2-0 lead. His towering drive down the left-field line and into the stands came on Teaford’s 0-1 pitch and followed Brennan Boesch’s single

”Left a fastball up to Peralta, he’s a good high ball hitter,” Teaford said.

It was Peralta’s fifth home run.

Perez cut the lead in half for Kansas City with his fourth homer, leading off the third. A right-handed batter, Perez lined Scherzer’s 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence and into the stands.

Young’s 10th home run, leading off the fourth made it 3-1. He lined Teaford’s 2-2 pitch into the shrubbery beyond the right-centerfield fence, an estimated 433 feet away.

Kansas City threatened with runners on second and third with two out in the fifth on a lead-off single by Jeff Francoeur and Alex Gordon’s two-out double that sent Francoueur to third. But Scherzer got Alcides Escobar swinging to end the inning.

Fielder’s three-run homer in the fifth broke the game open, giving the Tigers a 6-1 lead.

He greeted reliever Tim Collins by launching his first pitch halfway up the right-field stands, an estimated 417 feet away. It also scored Austin Jackson and Quintin Berry, who led off the inning with singles.

”That was the dagger, you know. 3-1, you’re still in it. 6-1 …” said Royals right fielder Jeff Francoeur.

It was the 15th homer for Fielder – his third in four games – who was voted the A.L. starter at first base by the fans for Tuesday night’s All-Star game in Kansas City. He will also participate in Monday night’s Home Run Derby. Fielder is batting .299 and has 63 RBIs.

”The amount of power he has, it’s awesome. You got to see it today.,” Scherzer said. ”A good reliever who’s had a pretty good year so far and absolutely took his fastball deep. That’s just the type of talent he has and why he makes our team great.”

Peralta doubled in a run in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

Delmon Young is finally doing what he was expected to this season.

And, so are the Detroit Tigers.

Young hit a two-run homer to give Detroit a much-needed, four-run cushion in the seventh inning and the Tigers held on to beat the Kansas City Royals 8-7 Saturday.

The designated hitter has a three-game homer streak for the first time in his career. He cleared the fence just six times in his first 74 games this season.

”He’s starting to do what I know he can do,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ”He’s a run-producer and right now he’s producing.”

Detroit is, too, with a four-game winning streak that matches its longest of the year to give the team with high preseason expectations a winning record for the first time since May 10.

”It was just a matter of time,” Young said. ”We’re too good of a team to struggle. We just need to win one more game to go into the break on a roll.”

Prince Fielder hit a two-run, game-tying homer in the first and the Tigers took an 8-4 lead on Young’s two-run shot off reliever Nate Adcock.

Detroit closer Jose Valverde started the ninth with a four-run lead and almost lost it.

Valverde walked Alex Gordon on four pitches to lead off the inning, gave up a double to Alcides Escobar and walked Eric Hosmer to load the bases. All-Star Billy Butler hit a two-run single to pull Kansas City within two runs.

Yuniesky Betancourt nearly hit a go-ahead, three-run homer on a fly center fielder Austin Jackson tracked down near the wall in left-center.

Jackson charged to make an underhanded catch on Mike Moustakas’ sacrifice fly for the second out and Jeff Francoeur struck out.

”I thought the worst-case scenario was that it gets up the gap, and it might get out,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”But Austin Jackson is just a phenomenal center fielder, and he ran it down. I didn’t think he was going to get Moose’s ball – I didn’t think it was hit hard enough – but he got that one as well.”

The Royals have lost seven of nine with one game left before hosting the All-Star game on Tuesday night.

Doug Fister (2-6) gave up four runs in six-plus innings and snapped a three-game losing streak. Fister, who has been on the disabled list twice this season, had given up 14 earned runs in his previous two starts.

”He’s getting closer and closer,” Leyland said. ”He’s going to start the first game after the break.”

Fister, Darin Downs, Brayan Villarreal and Phil Coke combined to pitch a scoreless seventh. Joaquin Benoit struck out two in the eighth and Valverde pitched a shaky ninth inning.

Bruce Chen (7-8) gave up six runs for the second straight game and allowed nine hits over 3 1-3 innings.

”Bruce just never got locked in,” Yost said. ”And while we’ve been really good with our long guys this year, Nate just hung one breaking ball. Other than that, he was fantastic.”

The Royals took a 2-0 lead in the first after Butler and Betancourt’s RBI singles, but couldn’t keep it. Jackson hit a leadoff single in the home half and scored on Fielder’s 14th homer, a 382-foot shot to right center with two outs to make it 2-all.

Gerald Laird had an RBI double and Jackson, who extended his career long hitting streak to 14 games, had an RBI single in a three-run second that put the Tigers up 5-2.

Miguel Cabrera’s sacrifice fly in the fourth gave Detroit a four-run lead.

Fister gave up two runs in the first, then pitched three scoreless innings before giving up Moustakas’ two-out homer in the fifth to let Kansas City pull within three runs. Betancourt’s sacrifice fly in the seventh off Villarreal cut Detroit’s lead to two.

— Associated Press —

Every 94 years, a Tigers rookie has a game like Drew Smyly.

On May 24, 1918, Swedish-born Eric Erickson struck out 12 without walking a batter in a 16-inning complete game.

Until Friday night, no other Tigers rookie had been able to hit double-digit strikeouts in a game without walking a batter. Not only did Drew Smyly do that against Kansas City in a 4-2 win, he needed 10 fewer innings than Erickson.

”Tonight was exceptional, because he’s not an overpowering pitcher,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ”But he’s got a good feel for pitching, and I like him a lot. I think he has a chance to be an outstanding pitcher in two or three years, and some people don’t think it will take that long.”

Smyly, making his 15th career start, struck out a career-high 10 while allowing two runs on six hits.

He improved to 4-3 and helped get the Tigers (42-42) back to .500 for the first time since May 15. They had failed the last eight times when needing one win to reach the mark.

”It means we’ve been winning,” said Delmon Young, who hit a tie-breaking homer in the sixth. ”Drew kept us in the ballgame so we didn’t have to panic and try to score runs early. Most 22-year-olds are in A-ball or Double-A, and he’s in the big leagues, carrying himself like a veteran.”

Four Detroit relievers finished, with Jose Valverde pitching the ninth for his 16th save in 19 tries.

Jonathan Sanchez (1-5) saw his winless streak extend to 10 starts, allowing four runs in 5 2-3 innings. He has not won since beating the Los Angeles Angels on April 8.

”He was definitely better,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”His strike ratio was better and his command was better. He just made two mistakes – one was a two-run triple and one was a two-run homer.”

Sanchez acknowledged that he made progress, but was far from content.

”The results are still not good enough,” he said. ”Today was better, yes, but I have to do more in the second half of the season. I just have to do better.”

The Tigers broke the scoreless tie in the third, when Ramon Santiago and Austin Jackson singled before coming home on Quintin Berry’s fourth triple.

Smyly only allowed one hit and struck out nine in the first four innings, but the Royals tied the game in the fifth.

”You just can’t see much here in the first four innings,” Yost said. ”That’s not an excuse – we have a pitcher out there who can take advantage of it as well, but it is really tough for hitters.”

With one out, Mike Moustakas bounced a ground-rule double over the 420-foot sign in center field, and Smyly appeared in pain after the pitch. He was checked by trainer Kevin Rand, but stayed in the game.

”On that pitch, I just tweaked my side,” he said. ”I just needed to stretch it out a bit.”

The next batter lined out, but Brayan Pena made it 2-1 with a double and Jason Bourgeois tied the game with a run-scoring single. The Royals put runners on second and third in the sixth, but Smyly got Moustakas to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Young hit a 3-1 pitch deep over the bullpens in left for his eighth homer – his second in two days – and a 4-2 Detroit lead.

— Associated Press —

Luke Hochevar won for the third time in four starts after leaving the game with a sprained ankle, Eric Hosmer had three RBIs and the Kansas City Royals beat the Blue Jays 9-6 on Thursday night.

All-Star Billy Butler snapped a season-long 0-for-24 hitless streak against Toronto pitching and Yuniesky Betancourt homered as the Royals won for the second time in six games. Salvador Perez tied a career-high with four hits, all singles, and Kansas City finished with a season-high 16 hits.

Hochevar (6-8) gave up two runs and four hits in five innings before leaving with his injury. He sprained his right ankle while running to cover first base on Colby Rasmus’ infield single in the fifth. He stayed in the game and struck out Jose Bautista to finish the inning, but was replaced by Tim Collins in the sixth.

Collins worked 1 1-3 innings and Greg Holland got the last two outs of the seventh. Aaron Crow got two outs in the eighth but gave up Yunel Escobar’s RBI single before Jose Mijares came on and surrendered a two-run triple to pinch-hitter Ben Francisco before Kelvin Herrera got J.P. Arencibia to ground out to end the threat.

Jonathan Broxton finished in the ninth for his 21st save.

Arencibia hit two home runs for the Blue Jays and Henderson Alvarez (5-7) gave up five runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings. Toronto lost for just the ninth time in 14 meetings against Kansas City dating to last season.

Kansas City opened the scoring with in a five-run, 10-batter third against Alvarez, an inning that started and ended with Jeff Francoeur grounding out to third base.

In between, Alcides Escobar, Hosmer and Billy Butler hit RBI singles. A fourth run scored on Brett Lawrie’s throwing error and Mike Moustakas capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.

Butler’s infield single to third base was his first hit against the Blue Jays this season. Lawrie tried to throw Butler out from foul territory behind third base, but sent his throw into right field, allowing Escobar to score.

Arencibia cut it to 5-2 in the third when he followed Kelly Johnson’s leadoff double with a two-run drive into the second deck in left.

Toronto’s catcher went deep again in the seventh with a one-out solo drive, his 13th homer of the season, off Collins. It was his third multihomer game of the season and sixth of his career.

Kansas City made it 8-3 with a three-run eighth against reliever Francisco Cordero. Alex Gordon had an RBI single and two runs scored on Hosmer’s base hit to shallow right, with Jarrod Dyson racing around to score from second when the throw went to first base.

Toronto cut it to 8-6 in the bottom half on Escobar’s RBI single and Francisco’s triple, but Betancourt led off the ninth with a solo homer off Drew Carpeneter, his sixth.

— Associated Press —

When Luis Mendoza couldn’t keep his sinker down, the Toronto Blue Jays took advantage.

Carlos Villanueva pitched six shutout innings, Yunel Escobar drove in two runs and the Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-1 Wednesday night.

Three of Toronto’s four runs came on sacrifice flies, leaving Royals manager Ned Yost frustrated that Mendoza was unable to get ground balls.

”The only thing was he couldn’t get the ball down in crucial situations,” Yost said. ”All three runs came on sac flies on pitches that were up.”

Every Blue Jays starter had at least one hit as Toronto won for the fourth time in six games. The Blue Jays are 6-1 against Kansas City this season and have won nine of the past 12 meetings dating to 2011.

Jeff Francoeur’s RBI triple in the seventh provided the only run of the game for the Royals, who have lost five of six.

”You give (Villanueva) credit for doing what he did but our offense just didn’t do it today,” Kansas City’s Alex Gordon said.

Toronto opened the scoring in the second when Rajai Davis tripled and scored on Kelly Johnson’s sacrifice fly.

The Blue Jays added two more in the third. Edwin Encarnacion led off with a ground ball to second and was safe when Mendoza and Eric Hosmer got tangled up at first, with Mendoza catching the throw by failing to step on the base.

”I was kind of late getting over to the bag,” Hosmer said. ”Me and Mendy kind of called it at the same time. I think I just broke too late and probably should have let Mendy take care of that right there.”

Yost saw it differently from the dugout.

”Mendoza has got to get out of the way,” Yost said. ”I could hear (Hosmer) screaming ‘I got it, I got it,’ and if I can hear him, Mendy’s just got to put on the brakes as best he can and let Hos take the play.”

Adam Lind followed with a double, sending Encarnacion to third, before Escobar and Davis hit back-to-back sacrifice flies.

”We shortened up the infield to try to take advantage of his good two-seamer and keep the ball on the ground and see if we could cut off one or two of those runs,” Yost said. ”All three of those pitches he got up.”

Escobar added an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out RBI single off Kelvin Herrera.

”I thought we did an excellent job of manufacturing some runs,” Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.

Starting for the second time this season after making 22 relief appearances, Villanueva (3-0) allowed just four hits, three of them singles. He walked none and matched a season-high with seven strikeouts.

”Carlos did an outstanding job,” Farrell said. ”He was efficient. To give us the six innings was obviously a plus.”

Jason Frasor replaced Villanueva in the seventh but couldn’t keep the shutout bid alive. Moustakas hit a two-out single and scored when Francoeur tripled to left on a ball that skipped past Davis and rolled all the way to the wall.

Darren Oliver pitched the eighth and Casey Janssen finished in the ninth for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.

Coming off a win over Minnesota in his last start, Royals right-hander Luis Mendoza pitched well but was unable to earn consecutive victories for the first time this season. Mendoza (3-5) allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out a career-high nine.

— Associated Press —

Mike Moustakas snapped out of his slump, and then some.

Moustakas hit his first career grand slam, Everett Teaford pitched seven innings for his first win of the season and the Kansas City Royals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3 on Monday night.

Hitless in 14 at-bats after going 0 for 8 in Saturday’s doubleheader at Minnesota, Moustakas was held out of Sunday’s series finale, with Royals manager Ned Yost giving him a chance to ”catch his breath.”

Moustakas must have breathed deeply.

After striking out his first time up, he hit an RBI double the next time. He then launched a grand slam to highlight Kansas City’s five-run seventh, giving him a career-best five RBIs.

”It was really cool,” Moustakas said. ”I got a good pitch to hit, got a fastball over the middle of the plate and just tried not to do too much with it.”

Moustakas said teammates and hitting coach Kevin Seitzer had been trying to keep him encouraged, but nothing helped more than snapping his hitless streak with his third-inning double.

”That was big,” he said. ”It helped me a lot.”

Salvador Perez added a two-run homer as the Royals ended a three-game losing streak, matched their season high with 14 hits and beat Toronto for the first time in five meetings this season.

Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 27th home run and Colby Rasmus hit a solo shot off the facing of the fifth deck but it wasn’t enough for the Blue Jays, who lost for the fifth time in seven games.

Teaford (1-0) allowed three runs and five hits for his first win since last September. He walked two and struck out two.

”For the most part I thought he pitched very, very well,” Yost said. ”I’m very pleased with him.”

Teaford said Kansas City’s offensive outburst made his job easy.

”When you get 11 runs, it’s easy to pitch,” Teaford said.

Kelvin Herrera worked the eighth and Tim Collins finished in the ninth as the Royals won for the fifth time in eight games.

Ricky Romero (8-3) lost at home for the first time in almost a year, giving up eight runs and a season-high 11 hits in six-plus innings. Romero, who suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season, also allowed eight runs in last Wednesday’s loss at Boston.

A downcast Romero said he’s working hard between starts, but still feels as if he’s stuck in quicksand.

”Every time you just keep getting deeper and deeper and you don’t know how to get out of it,” he said.

Romero came in unbeaten in 14 starts at Rogers Centre since losing a 4-1 decision to the Yankees on July 16, 2011, and was handed an early lead when Brett Lawrie scored on Yunel Escobar’s bases-loaded groundout in the first.

”Teaford did a great job of getting out of that first inning only giving up one,” Yost said. ”That could have been some damage right there.”

Romero couldn’t hold the lead, however, and Perez quickly put the Royals in front with his third homer, a two-out line drive that barely cleared the left-field fence.

”He hit it so hard it didn’t think it had enough height to get out but it got out and that was huge,” Yost said. ”It did turn the momentum around.”

Kansas City added two more in the third on back-to-back RBI doubles by Yuniesky Betancourt and Moustakas.

Bautista made it 4-2 with a solo drive to center in the bottom half, but the Royals piled on with two more in the fourth. Alex Gordon’s RBI single drove in Perez and Jason Bourgeois scored on a wild pitch.

Rasmus cut it to 6-3 with a booming homer off Teaford in the fifth, a two-out drive that hit off the facing of the fifth deck in right field, his 16th of the season and second in two days.

Asked whether Rasmus’ drive was the longest home run he’s ever allowed, Teaford joked that he would ”have to check air traffic control.”

Kansas City chased Romero and put the game out of reach with a five-run seventh. Alcides Escobar led off with a walk, Eric Hosmer doubled and David Pauley came on to replace Romero. Pauley hit Billy Butler to load the bases, gave up an RBI single to Betancourt, then surrendered a first-pitch homer to Moustakas, his 14th.

”That was our first grand slam of the year and it came at a great time,” Yost said.

— Associated Press —

Joe Mauer will be representing the Minnesota Twins at the All-Star Game. Josh Willingham, however, might be the team’s most valuable player at this point.

He came through again in the clutch Sunday.

Trevor Plouffe homered twice, Willingham and Drew Butera each connected and the Twins came back from four runs down to take a big lead, then held off the Kansas City Royals 10-8.

With one run already across in the sixth, Willingham hit a three-run homer to tie it at 5. Two batters later, Plouffe hit a solo shot for his second of the day.

Willingham, who signed a three-year deal in December to basically replace Michael Cuddyer at a lower price, has 17 home runs and a team-leading 55 RBIs.

”The only thing I can say is I’m happy with the way my season’s gone so far. Obviously, we want to keep winning as a team,” he said. ”(Joe’s) going to represent this team well.”

Others in the clubhouse were more forthright in their disappointment.

”He’s been there from Day One, he’s been carrying the load for our baseball team an awful lot,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. ”I sure was hoping he would get a chance to play in an All-Star game. He’s very deserving of it and he just added onto his numbers today.”

Said Plouffe: ”Joe is obviously having a great year and deserves it, and I think Josh deserves it just as much. I’m not happy to see that he didn’t make it because I think he’s been carrying our team all year.”

Plouffe also hit a solo homer in the second inning. Butera added a three-run shot in the eighth for a 10-5 lead.

”I don’t get tired of seeing three or four home runs a game, especially if it’s our team,” Gardenhire said.

The first three Minnesota home runs came off Bruce Chen (7-7), who had mostly breezed through the first five innings.

Chen, who had allowed just one earned run in each of his last two starts, gave up six earned runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings. Irving Falu drove in four runs for the Royals.

Reliever Jeff Gray (4-0) got the last two outs of the sixth and the first of the seventh for Minnesota.

Brian Dozier led off the Twins’ sixth with his first career triple and scored on a squeeze bunt by Denard Span. Jamey Carroll walked and Mauer singled up the middle before Willingham hit a 416-foot home run, his 17th of the season.

Plouffe’s second home run was his 18th of the season. Thirteen of them have come since June 1.

”I’m not trying to hit home runs. I can tell you that much,” he said.

Span added an RBI single in the seventh.

Twins starter Francisco Liriano gave up five runs – four earned – in 5 1-3 innings.

Liriano said he’s been more relaxed since rejoining the rotation in late May, which has led to greater confidence. He was that way early, cruising through three innings but danced with danger the next three.

The left-hander gave up a single to Billy Butler leading off the fourth and walked Yuniesky Betancourt two batters later, prompting a mound visit from Butera. After a single by Eric Hosmer loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly by Brayan Pena tied it at 1. But Jason Bourgeois struck out to end the threat.

A double play helped Liriano escape a fifth-inning jam, but he didn’t get that in the sixth.

Betancourt singled with one out and Hosmer was hit by a pitch, before a batted ball by Pena deflected off Liriano for an infield single to load the bases. A single by Bourgeois off the glove of first baseman Justin Morneau scored two – the latter on an error by right fielder Darin Mastroianni who overran the ball.

Liriano was replaced by Gray, who promptly gave up a two-run double to Falu to make it 5-1.

”It’s just one of those days,” Kansas City manager Ned Yost said.

Pena added an RBI single and Falu a two-run single in the ninth against Glen Perkins.

Butler, the Royals’ All-Star, was 1 for 4, including a strikeout with two runners on in the eighth inning.

”It’s a good feeling,” he said of his selection. ”It’s just tough when you have a game like that, it puts a damper on things. It’s an honor to do it, especially when we’re hosting it, so I get to do it in front of my hometown fans.”

— Associated Press —

Heading into his team’s day-night doubleheader against Kansas City, one of Ron Gardenhire’s top priorities was protecting Minnesota’s taxed bullpen.

Scott Diamond and Cole De Vries eased their manager’s concerns.

Diamond began the day tossing eight solid innings in a 7-2 victory, and De Vries closed it with six strong innings as the Twins completed the day-night sweep by beating the Royals 5-1 on Saturday night.

”A long day of baseball, and two nice wins,” Gardenhire said.

The pair of victories helped the Twins finish June with a 14-13 record – their first winning month in almost a year.

”Geez, that’s the first I’ve heard of it,” said Joe Mauer, who hit his fourth homer in the second game. ”But, you know, we’ve been playing pretty good baseball and hopefully we can continue to do that.”

Josh Willingham and Chris Parmelee also homered for the Twins in the second game. But the story was De Vries, who was called up as the 26th player on the roster as allowed for doubleheaders – and promptly sent back down the minors after the victory.

”He wouldn’t be able to pitch for probably four or five days right now,” Gardenhire said. ”We’ve got eight until the All-Star break, it doesn’t make much sense to keep him here.”

De Vries took the move in stride.

”Coming here, I knew I was the 26th guy, and usually the guy who comes up to be the 26th guy goes back down, and so I kind of figured that was going to happen,” he said.

Pitching in front of his hometown fans, De Vries (2-1) struck out a career-high six and held the Royals to five hits. Kansas City’s lone run against him came on Billy Butler’s homer leading off the second.

Luke Hochevar (5-8) allowed five runs and eight hits, including Minnesota’s three homers.

A night after throwing five relief innings, the Twins’ bullpen was needed for only four combined in the doubleheader thanks to Diamond and De Vries. Twins relievers entered the day with the third-most innings pitched in the majors.

De Vries struck out four in the first two innings, fanning Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar to work out of a second-inning jam with runners at second and third.

Alex Burnett, Tyler Robertson and Jared Burton each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.

Hochevar entered the game having thrown 16 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings after stopping Houston and Tampa Bay.

After Mauer’s two-out single in the first, Willingham homered. In the second, Parmelee hit his first homer of the season on a shot to deep right. Mauer’s solo homer to left-center, the former AL MVP’s first since June 2 and fourth overall, barely cleared the wall to make it 4-1 in the third.

Before Saturday, Hochevar had given up only two home runs in his previous 42 2/3 innings.

”Two of those home runs came with two strikes when I’m trying to put a guy away, and I just felt like my curveball didn’t have that finish, that bite,” Hochevar said.

Trevor Plouffe, who homered in the first game, scored on Darin Mastroianni’s RBI single in the sixth.

Easily the Twins’ most effective starter since being called up in May, Diamond (7-3) allowed two runs and six hits to give Minnesota a big lift.

”I was feeling confident earlier, this is just icing on the cake I guess,” Diamond said. ”I’m pretty happy to be able to just keep going out. With a doubleheader today, I’m just trying to eat up as many innings as possible.”

Jonathan Sanchez (1-4) didn’t fare nearly as well. While Diamond cruised through Kansas City’s lineup, Sanchez issued six walks and was done after 4 1-3 innings. Both starters finished with 101 pitches.

Minnesota strung together five consecutive hits to open a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning, including a strange RBI single from Brian Dozier.

With one out and runners on first and second, Dozier’s bouncer hit the ground behind him and rolled fair. While Sanchez and catcher Brayan Pena scrambled after the ball, Dozier sprinted safely to first and Ryan Doumit scored all the way from second.

Alexi Casilla added a two-run double and Denard Span had an RBI single before Royals manager Ned Yost brought in Vin Mazzaro.

Yuniesky Betancourt drove in Kansas City’s first run with a groundout in the sixth. He also singled in a run in the eighth.

Diamond struck out four and walked two while pitching eight innings for the second consecutive start. Glen Perkins finished the seven-hitter.

”The first game, we were dead,” Royals outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. ”It carried over to the second game. We’re a much better hitting team than to do what we did today. It’s disappointing.”

— Associated Press —