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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It started with a double by Alex Gordon, gained momentum on a single by Eric Hosmer and another double by Billy Butler, and then was capped off by a two-run shot from Lorenzo Cain. It was a four-run eighth inning by the Kansas City Royals. It was the kind of outburst that hasnt happened often. In this case, it carried the Royals to a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night and to back-to-back wins for the first time since May 4-5. But the big inning also represented as many runs as the scuffling Kansas City offence had produced in any of its last 14 games. "Were getting better. Were starting to come out of it," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "The offence looks like its starting to turn the corner a little bit." The Royals began the season 17-10 before winning six of their next 28 games, their collapse lowlighted by a franchise-record 11-game home skid that ended Wednesday night. Now theyre on a winning streak, modest though it may be. "Weve always felt confidence. We had a bad May. Thats all I can say," Butler said. "We had a bad May, but our confidence has never been wavering. You saw it tonight. We got down 3-0 and battled back and kind of exploded there in the eighth." The Royals hadnt scored seven runs in a game since beating the Astros on May 21. Wade Davis allowed three unearned runs before the Royals bullpen took control. Luke Hochevar, Tim Collins (2-1) and Greg Holland combined for four scoreless innings to wrap up the win. "You can see a little more chemistry and contagious hitting-type things like tonight, and a little bit yesterday, chipping away and chipping away," Davis said. "Were not going to wake up and be the best in baseball, but we just have to keep chipping away." All of the Royals runs in the eighth came off Jared Burton (0-3), who allowed Hosmers go-ahead single and an RBI double by Butler before serving up Cains homer to left field. "Its not magic, guys. You either execute or you get executed. This one hurts," Burton said. "We got off to an early lead. Its a tough one to lose. We needed this series." Instead, the Royals won their first since taking two of three from the Angels in mid-May. "At the end we kind of let it get away," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. Things began well enough for Minnesota when Jamey Carroll led off the game with a grounder that third baseman Mike Moustakas fielded cleanly and then threw over Hosmers head at first base for an error. Carroll ended up on second, and eventually reached third on a groundout. The errors were only beginning for Kansas City. Josh Willingham proceeded to strike out on a wild pitch that not only allowed him to reach base but also allowed Carroll to score. Two batters later, Ryan Doumit went deep for the second time in the series to give the Twins a 3-0 lead -- all on one hit. "That first inning had some weird stuff happen," Davis said. "I just kept telling myself, Keep it right there, especially when we scored the two runs. It gave me extra motivation to bear down." The two runs came in the second on a single by Chris Getz, and the Royals finally tied the game in the sixth when Hosmer doubled and Salvador Perez drove him home with a single. That kept both starting pitchers from factoring in the decision. The Twins Mike Pelfrey, whom the Royals tagged for six runs in two innings in April, went a season-best 6 1-3 on Thursday night. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk. Davis needed 107 pitches to get through five innings for Kansas City, thanks in part to his shaky defence. He allowed four hits and three walks, but all three runs off him were unearned. It was the first time he hadnt allowed an earned run in a start since April 17. "Thats kind of the way its been for Wade. He finds ways to bend a little bit but never breaks, or seldom breaks, but always gets his pitch count up high," Yost said. "He gets himself into trouble and pitches himself out of it, and he did that again tonight." NOTES: The Royals claimed 3B/OF Edinson Rincon off waivers from San Diego and optioned him to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. They also sent OF Jarrod Dyson (right ankle sprain) on a rehab trip to Triple-A Omaha. ... The Twins head to Washington for the first time under manager Ron Gardenhire, though he pointed out hes been there before. He visited the White House after the 91 Twins won the World Series. RHP Kevin Correia pitches the opener against the Nationals on Friday night. ... RHP James Shields will start Friday night for Kansas City against Houston. Daniel Gibson Jersey . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Mo Williams Jersey . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. https://www.cheapcavaliers.com/1502q-dylan-windler-jersey-cavaliers.html . -- New England Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis is retiring after a 16-year career to become the goalie coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Shaquille ONeal Jersey . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. John Johnson Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday will return to the court within the next week, a league source confirmed to ESPN.Holiday has missed the first nine games, in which the Pelicans have compiled a 1-8 record, in order to tend to his wife, Lauren, as she recovers from the birth of their child and surgery to remove a benign tumor from the right side of her brain.There still is no set date scheduled for Holidays return, the source said.The Holidays have spent the opening of the season in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Lauren, a two-time gold medalist and 2015 World Cup winner with the U.S. womens national team soccer team, has received medical care. Jrue in recent days has been photographed working out on the campus of the University of North Carolina.The Pelicans recently sent assistant coach Jamelle McMillan to work with Holiday while the team was away on a three-game road trip.The Vertical first reported Holidays imminent return Friday.The Pelicans have reiterated throughout Holidays absence that there has been no pressure put on him to rush back.Its a tough situation, Anthony Davis said last week. We respect his decision and whatever it is that hes doing. We know that he wants to be here, but of course his family is first.dddddddddddd. He has a wife and a family -- and now a daughter -- to take care of. We respect his time. Hell come back when he knows the time is right.Holiday, 26, was limited to a combined 74 games in his first two seasons in New Orleans because of right leg injuries, but he broke through in 2015-16, averaging 16.8 points and six assists and a career-high 19.7 player efficiency rating in 65 games. His season was cut short after he fractured an orbital wall of his right eye during a game, but did he not miss a game because of his right leg outside of planned absences in the first half of the season.My family comes before basketball, Holiday told the Times-Picayune in early September. Im obviously blessed to play this game and be in the position I am in, but my wife is the most important thing in the world to me. She comes before anything else.The Pelicans, who defeated the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday for their first win of the season, currently rank 26th in the NBA in offensive efficiency and tied for 13th in defensive efficiency. ' ' '