Butler powers Royals past Twins
10:08 p.m. Friday, September 26, 2008
Royals 8, Twins 1
That splash you heard at the Metrodome was the Royals tossing cold water on a case of pennant fever.
Kansas City cooled off the Minnesota Twins, 8-1, on Friday night as 30,674 noisy but disappointed fans watched the scrap for the American League Central title continue. Kyle Davies earned the victory, and Billy Butler and Mike Aviles hit home runs.
Fresh from a three-game sweep over the rival Chicago White Sox that gave them first place, the Twins started their hottest pitcher, left-hander Francisco Liriano.
Liriano, his surgically rebuilt left elbow sound, was 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 10 previous starts since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester.
However, Liriano was clipped for four runs in the third inning. Aviles doubled and Alberto Callaspo singled, boosting his hitting streak to a 2008 club-best 17 games. Jose Guillen singled to left, driving in his 97th run.
Liriano's wild pitch advanced the runners, and both scored on Ryan Shealy's single to right. After two outs, Alex Gordon doubled to center, and Shealy scored for a 4-0 lead.
Butler was the undoing of Liriano, belting a two-run homer over the center-field wall. It came after Mark Teahen doubled to right. Butler's 11th homer prompted the Twins to lift Liriano in favor of right-hander Phil Humber.
Aviles banged his 10th homer, a solo shot to left, off Humber in the sixth for a 7-0 lead.
Davies began the fifth by issuing two walks but escaped. After a groundout, a pitch got away from catcher Miguel Olivo and Delmon Young tried to score. Olivo recovered and flipped to Davies, who tagged Young at the plate. Then Carlos Gomez looked at strike three.
The Twins finally scored in the sixth on Denard Span's triple and a groundout. That was the last inning for Davies, who gave up just four hits and matched his career high with eight strikeouts.
The Royals retained their half-game lead over the Detroit Tigers, who also won, in their battle to avoid last place in the Central.
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