Volquez, Royals snap four-game skid with 4-2 victory vs. Twins

KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kauffman Stadium returned to a state of normalcy on Tuesday evening. The starting pitcher for the Royals did not combust and the team’s lineup did not backfire. The defense held firm and the high-powered relievers dusted aside their competition.

In short, in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins, the Royals resembled the baseball club who so dominated their division and their league for most of the summer. The specter of three decades of losing may have allowed a four-game losing streak to look foreboding, but the team snapped that string with a crisp performance on Tuesday.

Edinson Volquez logged seven innings of two-run baseball, scattering six hits. Wade Davis and Greg Holland recorded the last six outs. A four-run first inning, led by Eric Hosmer’s three-run double, powered the offense. With a victory on Wednesday, Kansas City (83-55) can salvage a 4-5 record on this homestand.

The streak was an anomaly. Kansas City had experienced only two other four-game skids all season. In the 36 innings before Tuesday, the club looked sluggish at the plate and ineffective on the mound, which incited alarm among certain sections of the fanbase.

The tremors of panic did not infect the players themselves. A small hive of TV cameras and tape recorders surrounded Lorenzo Cain a few hours before the game. Cain looked fatigued by the line of questioning, unable to manufacture even a hint of concern about his team’s situation. His cadence never deviated from monotone.

“We’re still confident, still ready to go,� Cain said. “A win today would definitely straighten out a lot of things.�

The team had coasted for weeks, racking up victories and extending their lead in both the American League Central and the overall race for home-field advantage. Yost handed out days of rest liberally to his regulars over the weekend, then watched his club stumbled into defeat.

The team reset on Monday, when Yost vowed he would ride his regulars until his team clinched the division. He insisted a day later that stance was not related to his team’s performance against the Chicago White Sox. Instead, he maintained, that was the plan all along.

“I just wanted to get everybody a day or two (off),� Yost said.

The gang assembled in full on Tuesday. Ben Zobrist led off. Alex Gordon batted second. The duo ambushed lanky right-hander Kyle Gibson, who entered the game with a 2.81 ERA in four starts against the Royals this season. In the past Gibson has overwhelmed the team with his combination of sinkers and sliders, but in the first inning Zobrist and Gordon each ripped first-pitch singles off fastballs.

After a walk by Cain, Eric Hosmer came up to hit with the bases loaded. Hosmer did not intend to wait. He hacked at the first pitch, but fouled off the fastball. When Gibson switched to a changeup, one that floated belt-high, Hosmer cleared the bases with a double to right.

The hit gave Hosmer a career-high 81 RBIs. Kansas City’s leading RBI producer soon brought him home. Kendrys Morales snuck a double inside the right-field line to plate his 101st run of the season. With seven more, he can match the career-best total he set as a 26-year-old with the Angels in 2009.

Volquez returned to the mound in possession of a four-run lead. He had given up six runs in three of his last five outings. The last time he took the mound, on Thursday against Detroit, he exited after only three innings.

Volquez yielded two runs in the third. A one-out single by rookie Byron Buxton, considered one of baseball’s most promising prospects, started the sequence. Buxton stole second and scored on a single by All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier. Joe Mauer roped an RBI double for the second run.

Volquez settled in from there. He would not allow another runner to reach second base.

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