Twins power past Royals in series opener

Ryan Jeffers went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and the Minnesota Twins pulled away for a 9-4 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in Minneapolis.

Kody Clemens went 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs for Minnesota, which won the series opener. Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis also drove in two runs apiece.

Mike Yastrzemski and Bobby Witt Jr. each homered for Kansas City. Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel also drove in a run for the Royals, who lost for the third time in their past four games.

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (11-5) allowed one run on four hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out five.

Royals right-hander Seth Lugo (8-6) surrendered seven runs on nine hits in four innings. He walked two and fanned one.

The Royals started the scoring on the first at-bat of the game. Yastrzemski led off with a shot over the wall in right field for his 10th homer of the season and his second with Kansas City.

The Twins answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. Matt Wallner hit a solo home run, Keaschall ripped an RBI single and Lewis added an RBI groundout to shortstop.

One inning later, Minnesota increased its lead to 5-1. Mickey Gasper walked to lead off the inning, advanced to second base on a single by Alan Roden and scored on a single by Jeffers. Two batters later, Keaschall drove in another run when he singled to center to bring home Roden.

Clemens added a two-run homer in the fourth to increase the Twins' lead to 7-1, a pull shot that traveled 379 feet down the right field line.

Witt cut the deficit to 7-2 with a mammoth home run in the sixth. The 25-year-old's 456-foot shot to left marked the 17th home run of the season and No. 99 of his career.

The Twins notched two more runs in the sixth. Jeffers hit an RBI single to right and Lewis followed with an RBI double to left.

Pasquantino laced an RBI single to center in the eighth to cut the deficit to 9-3.

Isbel capped the scoring with an RBI single to center in the ninth.