Jose Guillen homered and drove in a pair and Brian Bannister (1-1) pitched into the seventh as Kansas City averted a sweep with a 4-3 win over the Twins on Sunday.
Kansas City held on in the ninth when Justin Morneau doubled home Joe Mauer, but Royals closer Joakim Soria fought back to strike out Michael Cuddyer and Jim Thome with the tying run at second for his fifth save.
It marked the fourth time this season Minnesota failed to sweep an opponent after winning the first two games of a series. Still, the Twins have won all six series this season.
Morneau hit his fourth homer of the season for Minnesota, while Guillen’s homer was his seventh. He is one behind Chicago’s Paul Konerko for the major league lead.
Minnesota | Kansas City | |
Kevin Slowey | Player | Brian Bannister |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.1 | IP | 6.1 |
2 | Strikeouts | 0 |
8 | Hits | 9 |
6.75 | ERA | 2.84 |
Minnesota | Kansas City | |
Justin Morneau | Player | Alberto Jose Callaspo |
2 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 4 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Minnesota | 12 | 1 | 19 | .324 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Kansas City | 9 | 1 | 17 | .290 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |