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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Minnesota first baseman Miguel Sanó swooped in to catch a popped-up bunt and start a triple play, highlighting the Twins' 2-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Sanó hit an RBI double in the third inning, then made the key defensive play in the bottom half.

Sanó has made a habit of these trifectas — while playing third base and first during his career, he's been a part of the last four triple plays turned by the Twins.

With Jarrod Dyson on second and Cam Gallagher on first, Nicky Lopez bunted to the right side. Sanó charged in to make the catch and threw to shortstop Andrelton Simmons to double off Dyson.

Simmons then trotted toward Gallagher and tossed to second baseman Nick Gordon, who was covering first, to complete the Twins' first triple play since 2019.

“As soon as I saw the ball, I tried to catch the ball, I tried to make the play. I saw the runners running so I threw to second and we were able to turn it," Sanó said.

The previous time Kansas City hit into a triple play was 2012.

“Triple plays normally don’t fare too well especially in close games,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “It was the right idea, but unfortunately we just did not have the right execution.”

Twins starter Bailey Ober gave up one run and five hits in four innings, striking out four in his second career start. The lone run came in the fourth when Andrew Benintendi singled home a run, his sixth RBI of the four-game series.

Relievers Luke Ferrell (1-0), Jorge Alcala, Tyler Duffy and Hansel Robles kept the Royals off the bases until the ninth inning, when Whit Merrifield hit a leadoff double. Taylor Rogers entered and finished for his fifth save of the year.

“The bullpen train came on in the fifth inning and every guy came in locked and loaded and throwing...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Pérez became only the fourth Kansas City player with consecutive multi-homer games and Jarrod Dyson scored the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning when centerfielder Gilberto Celestino made a pair of errors on a simple fly ball, helping the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 6-5 Thursday night.

Pérez hit a 456-foot solo homer in the first and another solo drive that just cleared the wall in the fifth off JA Happ. Pérez has 14 home runs this season and joined Ed Kirkpatrick in 1969, Darrell Porter in 1977 and Mike Sweeney as the only Royals with multiple homers in consecutive games.

“I was thinking that he would be aggressive, Pérez said of Happ. “I got fastballs against him in Minnesota, so I was ready.”

With the score 5-5 in the seventh, Carlos Santana walked against Hansel Robles (1-2) leading off, and Jarrod Dyson pinch ran and stole second. Pérez popped out and Andrew Benintendi flied to center. Celestino cut in front of left fielder Trevor Larnach and dropped the ball, then threw the ball over second. The ball rolled all the way to first as Dyson came home.

"When Dyson steps on the field and he’s on the bases, there is going to be pressure,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He was tagging up, and I think that it added some pressure to come up and make a throw to third base.”

“Obviously, we didn’t make the play,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We need to make that play.”

Jacob Junis (2-3) won after allowing Josh Donaldson's second solo home run of the night in the seventh inning, and Scott Barlow pitched two hitless innings for his second save this season and the fifth of his big league career.

Donaldson, who has seven homers, also went deep in the first off Kris Bubic, who allowed four runs — three earned — and eight hits...

DETROIT (AP) — Jarrod Dyson doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and the Kansas City Royals held on to beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 on Monday, completing a four-game sweep on the road for the first time in nearly 22 years.

The AL Central-leading Royals (14-7) have won a season-high five straight and own the best record in the league.

Detroit (7-16) has the worst record in the majors after losing 10 of its last 11 games and is off to its worst start since 2003.

Kansas City starter Brad Keller (2-2) gave up two runs and eight hits over six innings. Scott Barlow and Greg Holland followed, each throwing a scoreless inning. Josh Staumont pitched the ninth for his second save in as many chances.

Spencer Turnbull (1-1) gave up three runs on five hits and no walks while striking out five. Detroit relievers combined to throw three innings of scoreless relief, but its hitters failed to take advantage of chances to extend or win the game, leaving 11 runners on base.

In the third inning, the Royals took a 2-0 lead on Carlos Santana's fifth homer of the season.

Cabrera's RBI in the third and Grayson Greiner's single in the fourth inning pulled Detroit into a tie.

Dyson scored the game-winning run after doubling, advancing on a bunt and coming home on Whit Merrifield's sacrifice fly.

RARE ROADIE

The last time Kansas City had a four-game sweep on the road was at Minnesota in May 1999.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez was taken out of the game with an injured right thumb after tagging Cabrera out on a play at the plate in the third inning. Perez played in his 1,000th game, becoming the 13th Royal and sixth active catcher to reach the milestone.

ON THE MOVE

Detroit IF Renato Núñez, designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and was...