KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Interstat) — The Minnesota Twins broke open a tight game with three runs in the ninth inning to defeat the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.

Minnesota’s Taj Bradley and Kansas City’s Cole Ragans dueled through six scoreless innings. Bradley allowed five hits and struck out three for the win. Ragans took the loss despite eight strikeouts and no earned runs over six frames.

The Twins led 1-0 before adding a run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly. Kansas City answered in the bottom half on Vinnie Pasquantino’s sac fly. Minnesota then pulled away in the ninth, keyed by solo homers from Kody Clemens and Josh Bell.

Attendance was 11,694. The game took 2 hours, 55 minutes. The Twins improved to 2-4, while the Royals fell to 3-3.