By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
AP Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Erik Kratz had played in only five games for Kansas City since being acquired from Toronto in a trade on July 28.

But the big guy always stayed ready and that discipline paid off Monday night to keep the Royals rolling.

Kratz homered twice after replacing an ailing Salvador Perez, and Jason Vargas pitched seven strong innings to lead the first-place Royals to a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

“You put your work in before the game as a bench guy to be ready to go in,” Kratz said. “Some people could say well, Salvy plays every day, so why not take a day off? In my opinion, what’s the point of taking a day off if that might be the day you come in and play?”

Vargas (10-5) allowed one run on four hits and struck out three, but had his scoreless innings streak snapped at 17 when Oswaldo Arcia hit a solo homer in the seventh. Perez had two hits and two RBIs before leaving in the seventh because of discomfort in his right knee, helping the Royals win for the 21st time in 26 games.

Kansas City extended its lead over the idle Detroit Tigers in the AL Central to two games.

Trevor May (0-2) gave up three runs on seven hits and walked four in 4 2-3 innings for the Twins.

When Perez left, Kratz came in as a pinch hitter and broke his bat on a pitch from Anthony Swarzak, but still managed to muscle it over the wall in left field for a 4-0 lead. Kratz added a solo shot to center in the ninth for his first multihomer game.

The drives proved even more important when Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer off Aaron Crow in the ninth inning.

“It’s great to help the team out when you do get in there for any bench guy,” Kratz said.

Greg Holland came on for his 38th save in 40 tries. Josh Willingham had three hits and Alex Gordon and Billy Butler each had two for the Royals, who have won eight straight series for the first time since 1991.

May made his major league debut on Aug. 9, and it was a rough one. He walked seven batters in two innings and gave up four runs. He breezed through four innings of his home debut, but walked the bases loaded in the fifth.

Perez followed with a two-run single and Butler added an RBI single to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.

That was enough for Vargas, who has dominated the Twins this season. He retired 10 in a row from the second through sixth while his offense built him a cushion.

“Salvy’s a huge part of our team, but we have to keep him healthy and keep him in it for the long haul,” Vargas said. “For Kratz to come in and step up and go big fly twice was pretty nice, especially when they were able to extend the game a little bit there. Those two home runs really counted.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: Perez is day to day with a sore knee. Manager Ned Yost said Perez tweaked a tendon in his knee while running the bases in the fifth inning, but was removed purely as a precaution.

Twins: Byron Buxton, one of the top prospects in baseball, flew to Fort Myers, Florida, to begin his recovery after a nasty outfield collision at Double-A New Britain. GM Terry Ryan said Buxton had a stiff neck and some headaches, but nothing more serious. Ryan said he doubts Buxton will play again this season.

“We’re all fortunate it ended up the way it ended up,” Ryan said. “We’ve seen collisions in our day, but that one ranked right up there.”

UP NEXT

The Royals open a two-game interleague series in Colorado. RHP James Shields (11-6, 3.29 ERA) starts the opener against LHP Tyler Matzek (2-8, 5.50).

The Twins stay home for a three-game series against Cleveland. RHP Kyle Gibson (11-9, 3.96) starts the opener against RHP Trevor Bauer (4-7, 4.35).

EARLY EXIT

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire didn’t stick around very long. When plate umpire Chris Segal called Joe Mauer out on strikes in the first inning, the mild-mannered first baseman argued that he fouled the third strike and it hit the dirt before Perez caught it. Segal disagreed, and Gardenhire came to Mauer’s defense before returning to the bench. Moments later, Segal ejected Gardenhire after the conversation apparently continued from the dugout. It was the fifth time this season and 72nd time in his career that Gardenhire was ejected.

By ADAM CZECH
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Kansas City Royals scored seven runs in the second inning. Then they really started hitting the ball.

Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games.

Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate in the big second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals then started hitting the ball out of the park after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth.

Gordon sent one drive into a flower bed in right-center. Perez lined one into the left-field seats, and Willingham’s homer traveled an estimated 433 feet into the third deck in left field.

“Those tack on runs are huge,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle. This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (9-10) returned to the mound after the delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs by Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas.

Oswaldo Arcia also went deep for Minnesota, hitting a two-run drive off Jason Frasor in the eighth for his 11th homer.

But Kansas City’s post-rain delay power surge helped it remain in control despite the Twins showing some power of their own.

“You gotta fight for 27 outs,” Perez said. “We continued to play hard. We needed to keep hitting it until the game was over.”

In his second start with Minnesota since coming over in a trade from Oakland, Tommy Milone (6-4) allowed seven runs in a career-low 1 1-3 innings.

“Awful. The first inning was good, the second one was pretty awful,” Milone said. “Couldn’t get a good feel, try not to walk guys, left the ball over the plate. It was pretty tough.”

The first pitch was delayed 34 minutes in anticipation of a rain shower that never happened. The rain did arrive as the second inning started and got worse until umpires called the players off the field with one out in the bottom of the fourth.

After managing just one run in Saturday night’s 4-1 loss, the Royals scored 10 or more for just the third time since June 17.

“With the weather and everything, we were pretty good,” Perez said. “We fought through it.”

GUTHRIE COMES BACK OUT

Guthrie helped save a tired Royals bullpen by staying in the game after the rain delay. “Just to be able to maneuver through that made it a good day for us,” Yost said.

NO EXCUSES

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire wasn’t going to blame the weather for Milone’s bad second inning. “They played through the same thing,” Gardenhire said. “They got it done, we didn’t.”

NO-RAIN RAIN DELAY

It wasn’t the first time this season the Twins have had a game delayed by rain that never arrived. The first pitch for Minnesota’s 5-4 loss to Houston at Target Field on June 6 was pushed back 81 minutes even though not a drop fell from the sky.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Josh Willingham returned to Target Field and hit a bases-clearing double in Kansas City’s five-run fourth inning, and the surging Royals hung on to beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Friday night.

Danny Dufy (8-10) allowed three runs in 51/3 innings to win his third straight start. Kansas City has won 11 of 12 and sits atop the AL Central by a 1½ games

Oswaldo Arcia hit an RBI double in the ninth and pinch-hitter Chris Parmelee drove him in with a groundout to cut the Royals’ lead to 6-5. But Greg Holland struck out Danny Santana for his 37th save in 39 chances.

After Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the third, the first six Royals hitters reached base to start the fourth off Ricky Nolasco (5-8). Willingham, traded by the Twins to the Royals four days ago, drilled a bases-loaded double down the left-field line to make it 3-2.

Two batters later, Alcides Escobar tripled to score Willingham and Mike Moustakas. Escobar also blooped an RBI single in the eighth to make it 6-3.

Nolasco made his first start since going on the disabled list July 8 with an elbow strain. He struck out three and looked sharp in every inning besides the fourth.

The right-hander signed a four-year, $49 million free agent contract in the offseason, the richest free agent deal in Twins history, and now has a 5.99 ERA.

After Duffy was removed, Aaron Crow and Francisley Bueno finished the sixth inning before Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Holland preserved the victory.

That trio has allowed only four runs over the last 441/3 innings, including two by Holland on Friday. The Royals are 19-4 over that span.

Kurt Suzuki had three hits for Minnesota.

UP NEXT

Yordano Ventura (9-8, 3.45 ERA) pitches for the Royals against Phil Hughes (12-8, 3.88) in the second this four-game series.

WORTH NOTING

The Royals play 32 of their final 42 games against teams currently at or below .500.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Royals: After a Thursday X-ray showed he’s not ready to return, 1B Eric Hosmer won’t have his fractured right hand examined again until after the Royals’ current 10-game road trip ends. Once cleared, Hosmer likely would need a week or two of work before rejoining the team.

Twins: Top prospect Byron Buxton will head to the Twins’ facility in Fort Myers to rehab from a concussion suffered during an outfield collision while playing for Double-A New Britain on Wednesday night.