KANSAS CITY, Mo., May 14 (UPI) -- A.J. Hinch homered and drove in four runs and Jeff Suppan pitched eight strong innings as the Kansas City Royals snapped a seven-game home losing to the Minnesota Twins with an 8-1 rout Tuesday night.
Kansas City defeated Minnesota at home for the first time since May 6, 2001 and beat the Twins here for the first time in four tries this season. Hinch triggered a three-run second inning with an RBI single and added a three-run homer in the fifth to cap the scoring.
Suppan (4-4), who won for the third time in his last four starts, allowed an unearned run and scattered nine hits. He struck out six, did not walk a batter and defeated the Twins for the first time in three starts this season.
Former Twin Chuck Knoblauch had a leadoff homer in the first inning, the 30th of his career, and had two hits and two runs scored for the Royals. Neifi Perez went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored as the bottom three hitters in Kansas City's lineup combined to go 7-for-12 with five runs scored.
Minnesota was forced to stick with starter Matt Kinney (1-3) after using six pitchers on Monday and paid for it. Kinney went 3 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and seven hits. He walked five.
