Rosario, Escobar help Twins win again over Royals

The Kansas City Royals wore their gold-accented uniforms on Friday night, a reminder of the championship that they won just two seasons ago.There was another relic of that title-winner on display, too: The way the Royals refuse to go away quietly into the night, and into history.One night after a three-run ninth-inning rally stung and stunned the former champs, Minnesota scored in each of the first five innings on Friday and with its ace righthander on the mound, appeared headed to another statement victory in Kauffman Stadium. But Kansas City didn’t accept the faded-past verdict, scratched its way back with a couple of well-placed clutch hits, but lost 8-5.Eddie Rosario, quiet in September after a memorable August, broke out of his 3-for-23 funk with four RBI in the first four innings, smacking a 434-foot home run far beyond the Twins’ bullpen, and delivering a bases-loaded, two-out single in the fourth inning that helped build a 5-1 lead.Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar got in on the offensive push, too. Dozier led off the game with a single, stole second base and scored on Rosario’s sacrifice fly, then drove in Escobar with a two-out single in the second. Escobar, after that second-inning single that Dozier cashed in, added another run with a home run of his own, his 16th of the season, and doubled and scored in the eighth.But when the Twins’ scoring seemed to recede, the Royals’ suddenly took off, as if their pride had been wounded. Ervin Santana needed only 33 pitches to retire Kansas City in the first three innings, allowing one early run on a Melky Cabrera sacrifice fly. But Eric Hosmer won a duel with Santana in the fourth inning, crushing a fastball into the Twins’ bullpen just out of Max Kepler’s reach, and the Royals followed up with three doubles in the fifth inning that eventually knocked the Twins’ most reliable pitcher out of the game after just five innings, his shortest start in a month.Kansas City struck again in the seventh inning, stringing three straight singles together off relievers Tyler Duffey and Taylor Rogers, with Ramon Torres’ hit driving in a run. But Trevor Hildenberger ended the threat with a double play and a fly ball.The Twins answered in the eighth inning, thanks to Escobar once again. The third baseman doubled, and scored on Robbie Grossman’s triple.“There were a lot of momentum changes,” Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said. “When you score the first five innings of a game and you have your best pitcher out there, you would like to think the game would be a little less stressful. But credit to the Royals and their fight, they kept finding ways to inch closer” he added.RESULTS Colorado 5 LA Dodgers 4 Seattle 4 LA Angels 3 Oakland 9 Houston 8 San Diego 10 Arizona 6 Minnesota 8 Kansas City 5 St. Louis 4 Pittsburgh 1 San Francisco 9 Chicago White Sox 2Texas 11 NY Yankees 5 Milwaukee 2 Chicago Cubs 0 Miami 7 Atlanta 1 Cleveland 5 Baltimore 0 NY Mets 5 Cincinnati 1 Boston 9 Tampa Bay 3 Detroit 5 Toronto 4 Washington 11 Philadelphia 10