Salvador Perez, Lorenzo Cain Lead Royals To 7-4 Victory Over Twins

Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer, Lorenzo Cain had four hits and two RBIs to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 7-4 road victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

Salvador Perez, Lorenzo Cain Lead Royals To 7-4 Victory Over Twins

The bases were loaded with zero outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and right-hander Wade Davis was staked to a three-run lead for the Royals.

Davis earned his 12th save in 13 attempts in the ninth. “I was just having a little trouble there early, timing-wise,” Davis said afterward. “It felt really good, but I had a tough time finding a comfortable rhythm, I guess, to get it in the strike zone, but I found it eventually.”

This was the seventh win for the Royals (24-21) in the last nine games. They also increased their two-game total in Minnesota this week to 30 hits and improved to 5-0 against the Twins (11-34) this season. The Twins lost to the American League Central division rival Royals for the eighth consecutive time at home.

Perez, a three-time All-Star catcher, followed a leadoff walk by Kendrys Morales in the second inning with a long drive off his 2013 teammate Ervin Santana that landed in the grass behind the wall in center field to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead.

”They make it tough,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. They have a lot of long at-bats. They foul pitches. They put balls in play, and they find holes.”

Edinson Volquez (5-4) earned his fifth victory on Tuesday, thus matching the cumulative total for Minnesota starters this season. The 32-year-old Dominican right-hander allowed six hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings, after giving up four or more runs in four of his last six turns. He also struck out six batters and ended up with two unearned runs in the fourth from an error on right fielder Paulo Orlando.

”We’re putting together a lot of different things we didn’t do before we started winning,” Volquez said.

Santana (1-3) only lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits, six runs and two walks in the second instance this month in which he failed to finish the fourth inning.

Perez has a 10-game hitting streak, batting .415 (17 for 41) during that stretch. Cain matched his career high for hits and increased his all-time batting average at Target Field in Minneapolis to .333 (33 for 99).

“We know what kind of talent we have in here,” Cain said moments after celebrating in a darkened clubhouse with a green strobe light dancing off the ceiling. “I feel like it was just a matter of time for us to just click together, swing the bats together and get hot at the same time. I feel like we’ve done that the last week or so. We just got to keep going.”

The Royals are now third in the AL Central. Right-hander Dillon Gee (1-0, 2.90 ERA) will make his third start of the season on Wednesday against the Twins at Target Field. Right-hander Tyler Duffey (1-3, 3.30 ERA) will start for the Twins.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – MAY 24: Salvador Perez #13 of the Kansas City Royals hits a two-run home run against the Minnesota Twins during the second inning of the game on May 24, 2016 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)