Royals Halt Twins’ Streak

Stung by four consecutive one-run losses, the Kansas City Royals ended their frustrations against the Minnesota Twins on Monday.

Luis Alicea hit a three-run homer and Carlos Febles went four for four to help the Royals to a 12-4 victory at Minneapolis, ending the Twins’ winning streak at five games.

“That’s what we needed,” Febles said, “to come out and play a game like this.”

The bottom third of Kansas City’s order--Neifi Perez, Brent Mayne and Febles--went 10 for 15 with nine runs scored and three RBIs. Alicea had four RBIs.

“It feels good to leave this place with a win,” Alicea said. “Minnesota has a great team.”

After losing six in a row, Kansas City got 17 hits and avoided its first four-game sweep at the Metrodome. The Royals, 4-11 against Minnesota this year, have outscored the Twins, 73-68. They scored more than four runs for the first time in 13 games.

Royal rookie Shawn Sedlacek (2-2) won despite giving up four runs, eight hits and five walks in 6 2/3 innings. Sedlacek gave up two sacrifice flies, to Denny Hocking in the second and Bobby Kielty in the sixth, then faded in the seventh.

Luis Rivas hit an RBI double, and Cristian Guzman drove him in with an infield single. But Scott Mullen relieved Sedlacek and got David Ortiz to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Joe Mays (1-3) gave up eight runs and 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings for Minnesota. His fourth start since spending three months on the disabled list with elbow inflammation was by far his worst.

“It’s funny how it works,” Mays said. “I thought I had good stuff. It seems like every ball they put in play seemed to find a hole.”

The Twins are 19-5 since the All-Star break and 16 games ahead of Chicago in the American League Central.

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Toronto 7, Baltimore 1--Steve Parris gave up one run and six hits in eight innings to win his fifth consecutive decision and Luke Prokopec finished with a perfect ninth for the Blue Jays at Toronto.

Orlando Hudson, Chris Woodward and Dewayne Wise homered for the Blue Jays.

Jose Cruz Jr., who went three for four with a walk, hit an RBI double in the third and Woodward homered leading off the fourth for a 2-1 lead. Hudson hit his first major league home run later in the inning, a two-run drive.

Oriole rookie Rodrigo Lopez (12-4), who had been unbeaten in six starts since June 20, gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings.

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Chicago 4, Tampa Bay 3--Mark Johnson hit a tiebreaking triple in the ninth to lead the White Sox at St. Petersburg, Fla. After Joe Crede hit a one-out single off Esteban Yan (5-6), Johnson tripled into the right-field corner.

Aubrey Huff hit a three-run homer for the Devil Rays, who split the four-game series. Tampa Bay has not won a series since June 28-30 against Florida.

White Sox starter Jon Garland, who retired his last 11 batters, gave up three runs and three hits in seven innings. He had a career-high eight strikeouts and two walks.