MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games.

By: Hannah Foslien Getty Images Sport
By: Hannah Foslien Getty Images Sport
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Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven times in the second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle.

This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003.

Kansas City's Jeremy Guthrie returned to the mound after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs to Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas.

Wainwright, Peralta pick up 15th

UNDATED (AP) — Adam Wainwright of St. Louis and Milwaukee's Wily Peralta have become the majors' second and third 15-game winners of the season, joining Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto. That means the Brewers still lead the National League Central by three games over the Cardinals.

Wainwright gave up three runs in seven innings of the Cardinals' 7-6 win over San Diego. He received plenty of support from Matt Carpenter, who homered, doubled and drove in three runs. Jon Jay's two-run single highlighted a four-run first in which the Redbirds batted around.

Peralta is 15-7 with a 3.32 ERA after helping the Brewers complete a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Peralta scattered five singles in six scoreless innings of the Brewers' 7-2 victory against the Dodgers.

Jonathan Lucroy tied a season high with five RBIs smacking a two-run homer and added a three-run double to put the Brewers ahead 5-0 in the second inning. Carlos Gomez also homered for Milwaukee.

The Dodgers' lead in the NL West is down to 3 ½ games after second-place San Francisco beat the Phillies 5-2. Andrew Susac had two hits and drove in the go-ahead run as the Giants won a home series for the first time since the All-Star break. Michael Morse got three hits and scored twice to help Tim Lincecum pick up his first victory in three weeks.

Elsewhere in the majors:

— Adam Rosales and Mike Carp hit RBI singles off Angels closer Huston Street in the bottom of the ninth to lift Texas past the Los Angeles Angels 3-2. The Angels ended a four-game winning streak and remain in a virtual tie with Oakland atop the AL West.

— The Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Athletics as Justin Upton hit a two-run homer and Chris Johnson added a solo shot in a 4-3 win over the A's in Atlanta. Mike Minor gave up two runs and four hits in seven innings while outpitching Jon Lester, who fell to 3-1 in four starts since coming to Oakland from Boston.

— Washington's lead in the NL East remains six games over Atlanta. The Nationals blew a 4-2 lead in the ninth and trailed 5-4 before pulling out their sixth straight win, 6-5 over Pittsburgh in 11 innings. Asdrubal Cabrera singled home the tying run in the bottom of the ninth before Jayson Werth doubled and scored Washington's winning run on Scott Hairston's sacrifice fly.

— Kevin Gausman gave up a run and two hits in six innings as Baltimore beat Cleveland 4-1 to avoid a three-game sweep. Steve Pearce and Jonathan Schoop hit solo homers for the Orioles, who head the AL East by seven games over the New York Yankees.

— The Yankees were 4-2 winners at Tampa Bay as Brett Gardner hit a two-run single and Mark Teixeira added a solo homer. Hiroki Kuroda retired 17 straight at one point and allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings to help the Yanks win their second straight since a five-game skid.

— Conor Gillaspie hit his first grand slam and Jordan Danks added a two-run shot, all during a six-run first that carried the Chicago White Sox past Toronto 7-5. Blue Jays slugger Juan Encarnacion socked his first homer since coming off the disabled list, but Toronto fell 7 ½ games off the AL East lead.

— The Royals lead the AL Central by 1 ½ games over Detroit after Chris Young held the Tigers to four hits in six shutout innings of Seattle's 8-1 victory in Motown. Kyle Seager's three RBIs helped the Mariners move a half-game ahead of the Tigers for the final AL wild-card berth.

— Giancarlo Stanton belted his major league-leading 32nd homer of the season and drove in four runs to lead Miami's offense on a 10-3 romp over Arizona. Garrett Jones also homered as the Marlins won for the fifth time in seven games to climb back to .500.

— The Chicago Cubs avoided a three-game sweep by beating the New York Mets 2-1 on Starlin Castro's homer leading off the ninth. Jake Arrieta settled for a no-decision after holding the Mets to two hits while striking out nine in seven innings.

— Jose Altuve went 4-for-5 with his first career grand slam as Houston crushed Boston 8-1. Dexter Fowler and Jon Singleton added solo homers for the Astros, whose 52 victories are one more than they earned last season.

— Colorado took Game 1 of a twinbill by beating Cincinnati 10-9 on Drew Stubb's three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Nolan Arenado went 4-for-4 and worked out a leadoff walk to spark the Rockies' five-run ninth.

— The Rockies completed the doubleheader sweep by scoring eight runs in their final two at-bats to beat Cincinnati 10-5. The game was tied until Corey Dickerson and Michael Cuddyer hit consecutive two-run doubles.

In another baseball note, Todd Helton had his No. 17 jersey retired by the Colorado Rockies. Helton retired after last season after compiling a .316 average during a stellar 17-year career, all with the Rockies. He is the first player in the team's 22-year history to have his number retired.

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