Better 8 than never: KC streaks into race

KANSAS CITY — The Royals continue to ride dominating starting pitching with their seventh quality start in their last eight games.

This time it was back to left-hander Danny Duffy, who held the Twins to one run, while Eric Hosmer’s go-ahead RBI double in the sixth was the difference offensively for the Royals in a 2-1 win on Sunday at Kauffman Stadium. Kansas City swept the four-game series with its eighth straight victory. Minnesota dropped to 2-11 in the season series and is 0-7 vs. Kansas City on the road.

Royals manager Ned Yost said of the hot streak, “I can’t, it’s just a — well, I can’t explain it. You just ride it. It’s funny, when they get cold, they get cold together, too. We joke about it, but it’s true. It’s a close-knit group. When we’re playing like we are right now, everyone’s relaxed and loose, and going up and having great at-bats. Everybody’s just, quite frankly, doing their job.”

The Royals moved to 3 1/2 games back of the Orioles for an American League Wild Card spot.

Duffy (11-1) exited after 6 2/3 innings. He gave up eight hits and one run, walked two and struck out four. It was his sixth straight quality start, and ninth in his last 10 starts. Kelvin Herrera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.

“There was a lot of traffic out there,” said Duffy, who won his 10th straight. “But we made pitches when we had to. Drew [Butera] called a great game. When you don’t have your best stuff, you just battle. That was kind of how I felt today. Just get through as many outs as you can and let your defense play behind you. And goodness, didn’t they? They killed it out there today.”

Twins starter Ervin Santana was outstanding, going seven innings and giving up just five hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out a season-high 10.

“It was a lot better game for us in terms of competing compared …

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