Twins deal KC a Royal Flush

GAME 1 - Griffith Stadium - MIN 4, KCR 3 (11 inn)
Kevin Appier vs Bert Blyleven
Recent HOF inductee Bert Blyleven had his curveball breaking shaply as he fanned 7 Royals in 9 innings of work. On most days a line score of 3 runs over 9 innings gets you a win, but not today as Kevin Appier was his mirror image equal.  KC took a 3-1 lead into the 9th inning, but Appier couldn't close the deal.  After walking Bobby Allison, Appier was greeted with a 2 run shot by Gary Gaetti with one out to tie the game at 3-3.  KC would go to "the Quiz" as the game wen to extra innings.  After dispatching the twins in order in the 10th and getting the first 2 outs in the 11th Quisenberry ran into trouble in the form of a two out double by Bobby Allison.  Gaetti, who sent the game into extra innings, ended it with a line drive single to center.  KC's DH, Danny Tartabull, had one of those feast or famine days by striking out 3 times and homering twice.  Al Worthington would get the win for the Twins by tossing 2 perfect innings in relief.

GAME 2 - MIN 2, KCR 0
Bret Saberhagen vs Jim Perry
Two costly errors by HOF third baseman George Brett would  lead to two unearned runs in the 4th, which would be the only black mark against Saberhagen's record on the day.  Jim Perry would go 8 1/3 and give up only 5 hits and hand his shutout effort over to Rick Aguilera to close it out.  KC could not muster up any offense to offset Brett's two faux pas in the field.  Brett, who is hitting .143, let the team down both offensively and defensively.  Zoilo Versalles had himself a 3 for 3 day batting in the 9th spot for Minnesota.

GAME 3 - MIN 7, KCR 4
Larry Gura vs Jim Kaat
KC jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the heels of a 3 run outburst in the second, but the bullpen could not hold on as the Twinkies rattled off 7 unanswered runs.  Mark Gubicza would take the loss for his poor effort (4 ER / 2 IP).  A two run homer by Harmon Killebrew gave the Twins their first lead of the day in the 7th.  Minnesota would post two insurance runs in the 8th.  The Twins would hit 4 homers on the day (Sievers, Killebrew, Battey & Allison).  Jim Kaat recovered nicely from the 4 runs that he allowed over the first 2 innings to shut out KC over the next 6 innings he pitched.  Aguilera for the second day in a row pitched a scoreless 9th for his second save of the season.