Royals 6, Twins 1: Alcides Escobar matched a career best by driving in four runs and Danny Duffy was solid into the sixth inning as visiting Kansas City took the opener of a three-game series.

Salvador Perez had a solo homer and Omar Infante delivered an RBI single as the Royals won for the ninth time in their last 10 road games. Duffy (5-7) let up a run on four hits in 5 2/3 innings to lower his ERA to 1.84 in six road starts.

Eduardo Nunez had two hits and an RBI as Minnesota saw its four-game home winning streak come to an end. Yohan Pino (0-2) also lasted two outs into the sixth but was reached for four runs on seven hits as the Twins lost for the sixth time in seven games.

A one-out single and a two-out walk set up Escobar in the second and he gave Kansas City a 2-0 lead with a double off the wall in right. Alex Gordon doubled to begin the fourth and came in on Infante's base hit for a 3-0 advantage.

Minnesota broke through with Nunez's run-scoring hit in the fifth but Perez got the run right back in the sixth when he yanked a belt-high fastball from Pino over the left-field wall for his 10th of the year. A pair of throwing errors by Twins second baseman Brian Dozier in the eighth proved costly as Escobar came through with another two-run double to cap the scoring.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kansas City signed 42-year-old OF/DH Raul Ibanez, who was released earlier in the month by the Los Angeles Angels. The Royals also traded LH Donnie Joseph to Miami in exchange for cash and designated IF Pedro Ciriaco and OF Justin Maxwell for assignment. ... Minnesota activated both Nunez and 3B Trevor Plouffe from the disabled list. It optioned INF Pedro Florimon to Triple-A Rochester and INF Jorge Polanco to High Single-A Fort Myers. ... Duffy finished June with a 1.69 ERA in six outings.