BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (Interstat) — Noah Cameron pitched six strong innings and Starling Marte hit a three-run homer as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at Target Field.

Cameron allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked none to earn his third win against four losses. Lucas Erceg recorded his 12th save with a scoreless two-thirds of an inning.

Kansas City took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on Nick Loftin’s RBI double. The Royals broke the game open in the fifth, scoring four runs. Marte homered to center field, driving in Lane Thomas and Maikel Garcia. Kansas City added a run in the eighth on Carter Jensen’s sacrifice fly.

Minnesota rallied in the ninth. Josh Bell belted a three-run homer off reliever Mason Black, and Victor Caratini singled home Trevor Larnach to cut the deficit to one. But Erceg induced a groundout to end the threat.

Connor Prielipp took the loss, allowing four hits and two earned runs in 4⅓ innings with seven strikeouts. The Twins fell to 30-37, while the Royals improved to 27-39. Attendance was 19,876. Game time was 2:49.