BLOOMINGTON (Interstat) — Luinder Avila pitched five solid innings and Carter Jensen homered in the first as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Target Field.

Avila, the top star for Kansas City, allowed two hits and one earned run with three strikeouts. It was his second consecutive strong outing after a win at Cincinnati on June 1. The Royals improved to 26-39, while the Twins fell to 30-36.

Jensen’s home run, his eighth of the season, sailed to right field in the top of the first and scored the only run until the fifth inning. Joe Ryan started for Minnesota and matched Avila through six innings, surrendering six hits and one earned run while striking out five.

The Twins broke through in the fifth. Austin Martin singled, Victor Caratini doubled and after a walk to Royce Lewis, Tristan Gray’s sacrifice fly brought Martin home. Minnesota tied the game at 1-1.

Neither team scored again until the eighth, when Orlando Arcia, pinch-hitting, crushed his first home run to left field, giving the Twins a 2-1 lead.

Kansas City answered in the ninth against Twins reliever Eric Orze. Isaac Collins singled, Josh Rojas reached on a fielder’s choice and Kyle Isbel sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Jensen then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Tyler Tolbert, who had replaced Collins, to tie the game. Bobby Witt Jr. followed with a line-drive single to left that scored Rojas, putting the Royals ahead 3-2.

The Twins threatened in the bottom of the ninth against closer Alex Lange. Kody Clemens doubled, but Josh Bell and Austin Martin struck out. Victor Caratini was hit by a pitch, bringing the tying run to first, but Lange struck out Royce Lewis to end the game. Lange earned his third save, working one inning and allowing one hit with three strikeouts.

Matt Strahm, who pitched the eighth and allowed Arcia’s home run, got the win to improve to 3-1. Orze took the loss, falling to 2-2. The game time was 2:43 in front of 20,555 fans.

The Royals had eight hits to Minnesota’s four. Besides Jensen’s homer and single, Vinnie Pasquantino had two singles. For the Twins, Caratini doubled and Clemens doubled in the ninth. Arcia’s homer was his only at-bat.

Avila’s performance was key in keeping the game close after the Royals’ early lead. He allowed just two hits and struck out three, working around two walks to limit damage. His previous outing June 1 against Cincinnati was nearly identical: five innings, two hits, one earned run, five strikeouts.

The victory gave Kansas City a split of the first two games of the series after losing Friday 5-3 and winning Thursday 8-6. The teams wrap up the series Sunday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Kansas City Royals 3, Minnesota Twins 4. Interstatl’s ELO system had projected Kansas City with a 50.30 percent probability to win. Minnesota had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 5 went over the over/under line of 8.5.