An extra out gave the hottest team in baseball life and the Royals used it to beat the Twins, 4-3 Wednesday night at Target Field.
A two-out error in the seventh by Twins shortstop Pedro Florimon allowed Alex Gordon, who tripled earlier in the inning, to score from third and give the Royals a 3-2 lead.
Trailing 2-0 in the fifth, Florimon put the Twins on the board with a solo home run to right-center field — his seventh of the season.
Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Ryan Doumit started the sixth inning with consecutive singles, and they did it on just five pitches. Trevor Plouffe followed with a soft fielder’s choice to third on the first pitch he saw and Mauer was forced out at home. Chris Herrmann then walked on four pitches, scoring Morneau from third to tie the game, 2-all.
The Twins cut the lead to one in the eighth after back-to-back doubles by Doumit and Plouffe.
Joe Mauer singled and advanced to second on an error in the ninth, but Morneau struck out for the second out and Doumit whiffed to end the game.
Kevin Correia started for the Twins but did not factor in the decision. The right-hander allowed two runs on 10 hits over six innings.
Kansas City has won 8 straight — the longest current streak in MLB.
