Santiago struggles, Twins blanked in KC

KANSAS CITY — The defending World Series champions may not be done after all.

The Royals, after a miserable 7-19 July that plummeted them seemingly out of contention, suddenly can do no wrong in August. Behind Alex Gordon’s two home runs and yet another dominant performance by right-hander Ian Kennedy, the Royals thumped the Twins, 10-0, on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals have won seven straight, are 14-5 in August and now have won five straight series. They are five games behind Baltimore for the second American League Wild Card spot pending the outcome of the Orioles-Astros game.

Kennedy threw eight shutout innings, giving up four hits while striking out six and walking none. He now has pitched six or more innings while giving up one run or fewer in five straight starts — that ties a franchise record set by Larry Gura in 1981.

Left-hander Hector Santiago started for the Twins and was chased after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up 11 hits and eight runs.

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDNo stopping Gordon: Gordon extended his hitting streak to 11 games; he is 17-for-41 (.415) in that span. And with his two home runs, he now has homered five times in his last five games. His last multihomer game was on May 18, 2014, against the …

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