Twins beat Royals in extras

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 and scored the winning run in the 11th inning to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night.

Mauer, a career .359 hitter at Kauffman Stadium, led off the 11th with a double off Jonathan Broxton (1-2) and he scored on Josh Willingham’s groundball single to right.

Casey Fien (1-0) worked two perfect innings to pick up his first major-league victory. Glen Perkins worked around Alcides Escobar’s leadoff double in the bottom of the inning to pick up his fifth save in eight opportunities.

Greg Holland, the third Kansas City pitcher, worked out of a 10th-inning jam, which Nick Mastroianni led off with a triple to right. Holland stranded him by retiring Alexi Casilla on a grounder with the infield in, then struck out Ben Revere and Jamey Carroll. Holland struck out four in two innings.

Mastroianni hit his second home run of the season, providing all the offense for the Twins early.

Mastroianni’s solo shot off Royals starters Luke Hochevar in the second inning gave the Twins an early 1-0 lead. But an RBI double by Kansas City’s Yuniesky Betancourt in the seventh inning off Twins starter Nick Blackburn knotted the score at 1-1.

Blackburn had a solid start for the Twins, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing just the one earned run to drop his season ERA to 7.46. Blackburn allowed seven hits, but struck out two and walked none.

Minnesota’s Trevor Plouffe failed to record a hit on Friday night in three chances at the plate, as his hitting streak came to an end at 17 games.

Tonight’s game between the Twins and the Royals begins at 6:10 p.m. Minnesota’s Scott Diamond (8-3, 2.96 ERA) will be facing Kansas City’s Luis Mendoza (3-6, 4.32).

Tags: sports, twins, baseball, mlb