GIBSON, 2 RELIEVERS 1-HIT ROYALS

Twins Belt 4 HRs

KANSAS CITY, July 29 (AP) – Kyle Gibson and a pair of relievers combined on a one-hit shutout as the Minnesota Twins upended the Kansas City Royals 7-0 at Kauffman Stadium.  The win creates a virtual three-way tie at the top of the American League’s Central Division between the Twins, Royals and Detroit Tigers.  All three clubs are one game under .500.  Only five games separates first from last place in the division.

The lone Kansas City hit came off the bat of Salvador Perez with one out in the bottom of the fourth.  That was immediately followed by a walk to Alex Gordon, giving the Royals runners at first and second.  But Billy Butler hit into a fielder’s choice, forcing Gordon at second, and Mike Moustakas then popped to short to end the threat.  It was the only time the Royals had more than one baserunner and it was the only time a Royals runner advanced past first base.

The Twins belted four home runs in the game—the first time since April that the club had more than three home runs in a single game—and the first of those long balls came in the very first inning.  Danny Santana led off the game with a base hit and, after Sam Fuld and Brian Dozier struck out, Josh Willingham crushed a 2-1 offering from James Shields over the wall in left-center for his sixth home run of the year.

The score was still 2-0 when the Twins broke the game open in the sixth.  Dozier’s 18^th homer of the year opened the frame and Willingham followed by drawing a base on balls.  Chris Parmalee struck out but Shields hit Trevor Plouffe to put runners on first and second with one out.  Kurt Suzuki grounded to first, with the runners advancing to second and third and Eduardo Nunez then effectively put the game away by belting a three-run home run to straight away center field to give Minnesota a 6-0 lead.  Fuld’s home run down the right field line off reliever Aaron Crow capped the scoring.

It was the 14^th time this season that the Royals—the lowest scoring team in the American League—have been shutout.  Kansas City has now dropped eight of the 10 games they’ve played this year against the Twins, and have been outhomered 14-3 in those contests.

7/29/2014, Min14-KC14, Kauffman Stadium

                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP

2014 Twins             2  0  0  0  0  4  1  0  0     7  8  0     3  0

2014 Royals            0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0     0  1  0     5  0

Twins                AB  R  H BI   AVG    Royals               AB  R  H BI   AVG

Santana,Da        cf  5  1  2  0  .275    Aoki              rf  4  0  0  0  .264

Fuld              rf  4  1  1  1  .286    Infante           2b  4  0  0  0  .252

Dozier            2b  4  1  1  1  .262    Hosmer            1b  3  0  0  0  .231

Willingham        lf  3  2  1  2  .160    Perez,S           c   4  0  1  0  .264

Parmelee          1b  4  0  2  0  .219    Gordon,A          lf  3  0  0  0  .230

Plouffe           3b  3  1  0  0  .284    Butler,B          dh  3  0  0  0  .237

Suzuki,K          c   4  0  0  0  .224    Moustakas         3b  1  0  0  0  .202

Nunez             dh  4  1  1  3  .254    Cain,L            cf  3  0  0  0  .269

Escobar,Edu       ss  4  0  0  0  .298    Escobar,A         ss  3  0  0  0  .290

                     35  7  8  7                               28  0  1  0

Twins                            INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Gibson           W 11-3          7.0  1  0  0  4  3 101  65  2.63

Pressly                          1.0  0  0  0  0  0   6   5  1.80

Fien                             1.0  0  0  0  0  1  11   7  4.03

                                 9.0  1  0  0  4  4 118  77

Royals                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA

Shields          L 9-7           5.2  7  6  6  1  4 104  67  3.01

Crow                             1.1  1  1  1  0  0  14   9  4.91

Frasor                           1.0  0  0  0  0  0   9   6  3.13

Davis,W                          1.0  0  0  0  0  2  14   9  0.36

                                 9.0  8  7  7  1  6 141  91

2B-Parmelee(9). HR-Fuld(3), Dozier(18), Willingham(6), Nunez(3).

RBI-Fuld(25), Dozier(61), Willingham 2(22), Nunez 3(16). SB-Santana,Da(9).

K-Santana,Da, Fuld 2, Dozier, Plouffe, Nunez, Perez,S, Gordon,A, Butler,B,

Cain,L. BB-Willingham, Hosmer, Gordon,A, Moustakas 2. HBP-Plouffe.

HB-Shields.

GWRBI: Willingham

Temperature: 81, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 12 MPH.

Attendance: 25,592

Game Time: 2:45