MINNEAPOLIS — Another impressive start from Kyle Davies. Another big helping of offense. Another win for the Royals.
Just another night in this amazing September.
The Royals punched out 16 hits Friday night in an 8-1 rout of the Minnesota Twins. It was a balanced attack that included at least one hit from 10 different players. Mike Aviles and Billy Butler hit homers.
Yep, lots of offense.
That made it easy for Davies. And he made it look easy, too. For the third straight start.
Davies closed his season at 9-7 after allowing just one run and four hits in six innings. He also matched a career high with eight strikeouts while walking two.
Maybe this isn't a coincidence.
Davies won his last three starts while holding opponents to three runs and 11 hits in 21 innings. That late kick lowered his final ERA to 4.06.
His latest effort was the rotation's 11th "quality start" in 12 games.
As for Twins starter Francisco Liriano, he little resembled the guy who had been unbeaten in 10 starts since returning in early August from the minor leagues.
Liriano, 6-4, gave up six runs and 11 hits in just 42/3 innings. His ERA jumped from 3.39 to 3.91.
The Royals, 74-86, needed the victory to stay ahead of Detroit, 73-86, in their quest to avoid a fifth straight last-place finish in the American League Central Division. The Tigers beat Tampa Bay 6-4.
Minnesota remained a half-game ahead of Chicago in the AL Central after the White Sox also lost, 11-8 to the Indians.
The Royals won for the 12th time in 14 games for the seventh straight time on the road. They are 17-7 in September for their first 17-victory month since going 17-13 in August 1995. They haven't won 18 games in a month since going 18-10 in July 1994 — the last full month before the strike.
The seven-game road streak is their first since 1989.
Some September.
Butler had two singles in addition to his homer. Aviles, Jose Guillen, Mark Teahen and Miguel Olivo each had two hits.
The Royals took control with a four-run fourth inning before Butler's two-run homer made it 6-0 in the fifth and knocked out Liriano. Aviles' homer came in the seventh.
Davies lost his shutout after Denard Span opened the sixth with a triple in the left-center gap. Span scored on Alexi Casilla's grounder to second before Davies closed the inning by retiring Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.
Leo Nunez, Jimmy Gobble and Yasuhiko Yabuta each contributed one scoreless inning in relief.
The Royals loaded the bases with three singles in the second inning, but Liriano stranded all three runners by retiring Mitch Maier on a looping drive to short.
But the Royals opened the fourth with four straight hits, which produced three runs. Aviles led off with a double and went to third on Alberto Callaspo's single.
Callaspo's single extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games.
Guillen collected his 97th RBI with a single through the left side before a wild pitch put runners on second and third. Ryan Shealy then pushed a 2-2 fastball into right center for a two-run single.
The Royals weren't done.
Alex Gordon extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-out RBI double that made it 4-0.
The Royals were back at it in the fifth. Teahen yanked a one-out double into the right-field corner, and Butler followed with a 404-foot blast over the center-field wall for a 6-0 lead.
Davies worked himself into his first real jam by opening the fifth with successive walks. Nick Punto's grounder to second moved the runners to second and third, but Davies escaped.
Delmon Young tried to score when a pitch to Carlos Gomez got away from Olivo. But Olivo retrieved the ball in time to make a throw to Davies for an easy out at the plate. Gomez ended the inning with a strikeout.
For the Royals, that's how things are going.