KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kennys Vargas and Byron Buxton shouldered the offense for the Minnesota Twins to win for only the third in their past 20 games on the road.

Vargas homered for the second straight game and doubled, while Buxton tripled and doubled as the Twins held off the Kansas City Royals 7-6 on Thursday night.

Buxton delivered a one-out double in the ninth inning and after Jorge Polanco reached on an infield hit, Robbie Grossman and Miguel Sano delivered consecutive RBI singles to give Minnesota a 6-4 lead. Max Kepler's two-out single made it 7-4.

Buxton hit a Kelvin Herrera breaking ball to spark the ninth inning go-ahead rally.

"When we were playing back home, he threw me two curveballs and the first night here he threw me curveballs, as well," Buxton said. "I knew that I was going to get a curveball at some point in that at-bat, so I just didn't want to miss it. And he left that one up a little bit, just put a pretty good swing on it."

Buxton acknowledged he was thinking about rounding third on his triple and going home.

"Pretty close" Buxton said. "I took a pretty big turn rounding third just to see where the ball was and Geno (third base coach Gene Glynn) was telling me 'that would have been nice to see'. That would have been nice to put us ahead and give us the lead, but I'm just glad that we got the win and went out there and competed and had fun."

The Royals scored two runs in the ninth off Brandon Kintzler, who collected his 16th save in 19 chances. The game ended with Kintzler picking pinch runner Terrance Gore off first base. Gore was initially ruled safe, but after a review and 75-second delay, the call was overturned.

"The replay said I wasn't safe, so stay with it," Gore said.

The Twins quickly requested a review of the pickoff.

"The call came pretty quickly," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I jumped out right away because it's one of those times, when the throw's into the runner it seems to be your best chance to catch those guys. We caught him leaning a little bit. Everyone knows what he's going to try to do and we were fortunate to get the pick there."

Vargas, who smashed a two-run homer Wednesday, hit a solo shot for his 10th of the season with two out in the sixth, cutting the Royals lead to 2-1. Vargas, who also doubled in the fourth, is 7-for-15 off Royals left-hander Danny Duffy.

Eduardo Escobar and John Ryan Murphy opened the Minnesota three-run seventh with singles. Logan Schafer's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third. Byron Buxton got them both home with a laser to the left-center gap that rolled to the wall for his sixth triple.

Jorge Polanco punched a single into center, scoring Buxton, and sending Duffy to the showers. He was replaced by Chris Young.

"Danny was really strong," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "Then just kind of hit a wall a little bit in the seventh. We were hoping to get him through that inning. With our pen the way that it was, we weren't going to go get him to preserve a one-run lead at that point. Hoped that Danny could get us through it. Just three or four base hits there did him in."

Duffy left trailing 4-2, allowing four runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Kyle Gibson, who the Twins drafted in the first round in 2009 out of Missouri, could not hold the lead. He gave up a one-out single to Drew Butera, who is 6-for-8 off Gibson. Jarrod Dyson's triple scored Butera. Whit Merrifield singled home Dyson and Gibson was removed with the scored tied at 4.

Gibson's line was similar to Duffy -- 6 1/3 innings, four runs and nine hits. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out eight.

"My job is just to get the team a chance to win," Gibson said. "If I go deep into the game and when I leave the game the team has a chance to win (that's my job). Some days that looks different than others. Thankfully today, giving up four runs and still gave the team a chance to win. So, it's always disappointing giving up runs. It's a long year; we've got three more games and I'm looking forward to a couple more wins, hopefully."

Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales left after four innings feeling sick and running a fever.

NOTES: Brian Dozier, who has started 149 games at second base, was not in the Twins lineup. He is in a 1-for-30 slump. Eduardo Escobar made his first start at second base. ... C Salvador Perez, who is 3-for-25 with five strikeouts against Twins starter Kyle Gibson, did not start. Drew Butera, who had not played since Sept. 22, started behind the plate. ...Twins RHP Tyler Duffey starts Friday in Chicago as the Twins end the season with three games against the White Sox. ... Royals RHP Yordano Ventura starts at home Friday against the Indians.