KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jordan Schafer and the Minnesota Twins finally broke it open in the 10th inning.
Schafer tied a career high with four RBIs, leading the Twins to an 11-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Bruce Chen (2-4), the sixth pitcher for the AL Central-leading Royals, gave up five hits and walked two in the 10th.
“I didn’t make good pitches and they get base hit after base hit after base hit,” Chen said.
Eduardo Nunez singled home the go-ahead run and Schafer had a two-run single. Brian Dozier added a two-run double and Kurt Suzuki capped the burst with an RBI double for his third hit of the game.
“It was another one where we could have won or lost,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We could have won all three or lost all three. Tonight was no different. We hung in there and finally had the big inning. It was a nice win for us after two tough losses.”
Minnesota had lost its last four games against Kansas City and seven of eight overall in the season series. Schafer had three hits while extending his hitting streak to eight games.
“Anytime you can help your team, it’s good, whether it’s with defense or stolen bases or scoring runs,” said Schafer, who stole a base and scored two runs.
Alex Gordon homered off Ryan Pressly to lead off the Royals seventh, tying it at 5.
Twins left-hander Tommy Milone was pulled after 5 1/3 innings, giving up four runs and nine hits. He is winless in four starts since the Twins acquired him in a July 31 trade with Oakland.
Royals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, who was 5-1 in his previous six starts, exited after six innings. He gave up five runs and nine hits.
