Long Ball Takes Out Royals on Final Series Game With the Twins
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Trevor Plouffe homered twice, Josh Willingham and Drew Butera had one each and the Minnesota Twins came back from four runs down to take a big lead, then held on to beat the Kansas City Royals 10-8 Sunday. With one run already across in the sixth, Willingham hit a three-run homer to tie the game at 5. Two batters later, Plouffe hit a solo shot for his second of the day. Plouffe also hit a solo homer in the second inning. Butera added a three-run shot in the eighth. Bruce Chen (7-7), 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.