KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — In a game dominated by starting pitching and defined by a late offensive eruption, the Minnesota Twins broke open a scoreless duel with a five-run surge over the final two innings to defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Thursday evening at Kauffman Stadium.

A crowd of 11,694 watched as the Twins, who had dropped the first two games of this series and four of their first five overall, rallied to salvage the finale and even their record at 2-4. The Royals fell to 3-3.

The most important part of the game was the Twins’ three-homer barrage in the top of the ninth inning, which transformed a tense one-run contest into a decisive victory. That offensive outburst, however, was only possible because of six shutout innings from Twins starter Taj Bradley, which matched the zeros posted by Royals ace Cole Ragans through the first half of the game.

For six innings, Ragans was nearly untouchable. The Royals’ left-hander held the Twins to four scattered hits, striking out eight and walking none. He expertly worked around a pair of singles in the second and a leadoff single in the fourth, inducing a double play to erase the latter threat. His performance continued a dominant start to the season, though he was let down by a lack of run support and a faltering bullpen.

Bradley, earning his first win of the season, was equally effective for Minnesota. He scattered five hits over six innings, walking one and striking out three. He navigated his biggest jam in the fourth, when the Royals loaded the bases with two outs on singles by Vinnie Pasquantino and Jac Caglianone and an infield hit by Isaac Collins. Bradley escaped by getting Lane Thomas to swing through a strike three.

The game remained a tense, scoreless stalemate until the Twins broke through in the eighth against Royals reliever John Schreiber. Josh Bell worked a leadoff walk and Royce Lewis followed with a double to left, putting runners at second and third with no outs. After a strikeout, Schreiber intentionally walked Trevor Larnach to load the bases. Byron Buxton then delivered a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring Bell to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Kansas City answered immediately in the bottom half against Twins reliever Kody Funderburk. Maikel Garcia led off with a single and scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s line-drive single to right, with Witt advancing to second on the throw home. A sacrifice fly by Vinnie Pasquantino brought Garcia home, tying the game at 1-1. The Royals threatened for more, but a successful Twins challenge upheld a force out at second, and Funderburk struck out Caglianone to end the inning with the score tied.

The deadlock was short-lived. Leading off the ninth against Schreiber, Matt Wallner launched a line-drive home run to left-center field, restoring Minnesota’s lead at 2-1. Two batters later, Kody Clemens connected for a solo shot to left field. Before the crowd had settled, Josh Bell followed with a towering homer to right field, marking the Twins’ third consecutive home run and pushing the lead to 4-1. The back-to-back-to-back homers blew the game open, and the Twins would add another run later in the inning on a series of productive outs.

Armed with a four-run cushion, Minnesota’s bullpen closed the door. Justin Topa worked a scoreless eighth, and after the Royals put two on with no outs in the ninth via an error and a walk, Taylor Rogers induced a crucial 6-4-3 double play from Lane Thomas before striking out Kyle Isbel to end the game.

Bradley (1-0) was credited with the win, while Ragans (0-2) took a hard-luck loss despite his stellar outing. The Twins’ bullpen combination of Funderburk, Topa, and Rogers provided three innings of one-run relief, allowing just two hits.

The victory halted a two-game skid for the Twins against their division rivals, who had outscored them 16-10 in the first two games of the series. The result also defied pregame projections, as Interstat’s game simulator had forecast a 6-3 Royals victory, and its ELO system gave Kansas City a 61.5% probability to win.

Minnesota returns home to begin a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Kansas City continues its homestand with a three-game weekend set against the Milwaukee Brewers.