MINNEAPOLIS -- Brian Dozier homered three times for the Minnesota Twins but the collective bats of the Kansas City Royals were too much in an 11-5 victory for the visitors on Monday afternoon at Target Field.

Kendrys Morales and Eric Hosmer each homered and the Royals pounded out 16 hits as Kansas City started a critical six-game road trip with a win.

The Royals trail the Baltimore Orioles by four games for the second wild card spot in the American League and their next 13 games are against teams that are currently under .500.

"We definitely have a run left in us," said Royals manager Ned Yost. "Our guys are playing hard, they're getting after it. We still feel like we're not out of this by any stretch of the imagination."

Morales' three-run shot in the fifth inning was his 23rd of the season and gave Kansas City the lead after a pair of Dozier home runs staked the Twins to an early lead.

"That was huge," Hosmer said of Morales' homer. "It really made life a lot easier for us, especially offensively. We had some good at-bats, some good situational hitting and a couple of big swings."

Hosmer's three-run blast in the eighth punctuated a four-run inning that put the game out of reach. The Kansas City first baseman has now homered in three of his last five games.

Every player in the Royals lineup had at least one hit and six had at least two.

Dozier remained red-hot, hitting the first pitch he saw from Ian Kennedy over the left-field fence for his 36th home run. Two innings later, No. 37 went into the second deck in left.

The slugging second baseman added his 38th in the bottom of the eighth inning, becoming the sixth player in team history to hit three home runs in a single game.

"It'd be a lot better if we were on the winning side of it," Dozier said. "But it is what it is. It was pretty cool."

Dozier became the first Twin since Harmon Killebrew in 1970 to surpass 35 home runs in a single season. He now has 10 home runs against Kansas City this season, two more than any other Royals opponent in franchise history.

Dozier has homered in 18 of his last 35 games , has 24 homers since the All-Star break and has hit at least one over the fence in four consecutive games, blasting six total in that span.

"You don't see runs like this very often," said Twins manager Paul Molitor. "They just keep coming. He did what he could to give us a chance today."

Kennedy (10-9) earned the victory despite allowing four runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings pitched, walking two and striking out six.

Dozier's homer in the first gave Minnesota a quick lead but Kansas City fought back for a pair of runs off Twins starter Jose Berrios (2-5) in the second on run-scoring hits by Alex Gordon and Alcides Escobar. The double by Escobar extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Dozier hit a two-run shot in the third and Eduardo Escobar's sacrifice bunt scored Eddie Rosario from second when nobody covered home plate, pushing the Twins lead to 4-2.

Berrios looked like he would get through the fifth, giving up a leadoff single before coaxing a fielder's choice ground out and striking out Paulo Orlando, but the rookie right hander walked Hosmer to keep the inning alive, setting up Morales' massive shot to the concourse beyond the right-field fence.

Hosmer's sacrifice fly and Salvador Perez's RBI single accounted for two more runs in the seventh before Orlando's sacrifice fly and Hosmer's homer in the eighth.

"It's big to get those insurance runs and save those guys on the back end," Hosmer said. "We're at the time and point in the year where we're going to need (the guys at the backend of the bullpen) in every close situation."

Berrios (2-5) took the loss after giving up five runs on nine hits and a walk with six strikeouts in five innings.



NOTES: Royals OF Lorenzo Cain missed his fifth consecutive game with a sore wrist and hand. Cain remains day-to-day and could start as soon as Tuesday. ... Twins RHP Jose Berrios was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in time to make the start on Monday. Berrios had a 9.24 ERA over 37 innings pitched in two previous stints with Minnesota. ... The Royals and Twins will play the second of a three-game series on Tuesday night at Target Field. Kansas City will send RHP Dillon Gee to the mound against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana.