open the second half that made it a four-point game, but t

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sitting in his office about 10 feet away from the Kansas City Royals locker room, manager Ned Yosts voice was nearly drown out by the thunderous hip hop music blaring and the full-throated cackling from his players in the next room. The young Royals have good reason to celebrate these days. Alcides Escobar tied a career high with four RBIs on two doubles and Salvador Perez homered to lift the Royals to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night. "Thats what we need," Perez said. "Have some fun and play the game hard." Danny Duffy (5-7) gave up one run and four hits while striking out three in 5 2-3 innings and Mike Moustakas had two hits for the Royals. Kansas City (43-39) has won three of four and is off to its best start since 2003. "Were very confident in what we have in the tank," Duffy said. "Weve got a great offence, great lineup. The defence is always flashing the leather. When we go out there and make pitches, its going to be a good night." Yohan Pino (0-2) gave up four runs and seven hits while also striking out three in 5 2-3 innings for the Twins. Eduardo Nunez had two hits and an RBI in his return from the disabled list for Minnesota, which has lost six of its last seven games to drop into last place in the AL Central. "Weve been facing some pretty decent pitching, and I dont know if its pressing," said manager Ron Gardenhire, whose Twins went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. "I just know were just not getting enough big hits right now. Were not putting any runs on the board. A lot of pressure on our pitchers to be really good." The Royals entered the night 3 1/2 games behind Detroit in the division and 1 1/2 games out of the AL wild card. For a team that has been endlessly rebuilding and hasnt made the playoffs since 1985, those are encouraging numbers as the season reaches its midpoint. They grabbed everyones attention with a 10-game winning streak that vaulted them into first place in June, but had lost seven of 10 games as the bats cooled off. The Royals signed 42-year-old Raul Ibanez on Monday, hoping he can help boost the teams scuffling offence and give a little extra support to a solid starting rotation. Ibanez broke into the big leagues with the Royals a decade ago, but hit just .157 in 57 games for the Angels this season. They had plenty of offence with him on the bench on Monday night. Pino was shaky early, getting tagged for a two-run double by Escobar in the second inning and an RBI-single from Alex Gordon in the fourth to fall behind 3-0. Perezs solo homer in the sixth ended Pinos day and the Royals took advantage of two throwing errors by second baseman Brian Dozier in the eighth, padding their lead with Escobars second two-run double of the game. "When youre not going good, youre not capitalizing on mistakes," Yost said. "When youre playing well, you do capitalize on mistakes. Thats exactly what we did tonight, which was big. Those were two big runs right there. Thats a lot of breathing room." NOTES: Twins GM Terry Ryan said prized prospect Byron Buxton is getting close to returning from a wrist injury that has kept him out for most of the season. Ryan said there still is no timetable for a return, but hed be surprised if Buxton wasnt back on the field sometime in July. ... Twins RF Chris Parmelee extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a double in the fifth inning. ... Moustakas made two stellar plays at 3B, a lunging catch on a liner by Kendrys Morales in the second and a scoop and force out at 3B to end a threat in the seventh. ... Twins RHP Ricky Nolasco (4-6, 5.74) will start the second game of the series against RHP James Shields (8-3, 3.79). China Jerseys . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere. Wholesale Jerseys Authentic . Completely. 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Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. BOULDER, Colo. -- For a team that built its reputation on stifling defence, fourth-ranked Arizona sure showed some offensive prowess Saturday night. The Wildcats routed the Buffaloes 88-61 for their first win in Boulder since 1973. They did it by holding Colorado without a bucket until 9:50 remained in the first half, then by shooting 84.6 per cent in the second half. "They whipped us tonight every which way you can whip a team," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. Freshman Aaron Gordon shook off a poor performance at Utah last week by scoring 21 of his season-best 23 points in the second half and Nick Johnson added 20 points for the Wildcats, who made 22 of 26 shots after halftime. "Weve had a few shootarounds here, we felt comfortable in their gym, it all just clicked for us," Johnson said. It was a rare breather for the Wildcats (25-2, 12-2 Pac-12), who scrapped their way through a series of close games since beating Colorado by 12 in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 23, before close losses at Cal and archrival Arizona State dropped them from the top spot in the AP Top 25. After that first game in Tempe, Buffaloes forward Xavier Johnson dissed the Cats, saying, "theyre not that good." He also said that even without injured star Spencer Dinwiddie, the Buffaloes were the more talented team and he suggested the rematch in Boulder would be a blowout. He was right, but it was the Wildcats who made this one a laugher, not the Buffaloes, who were throttled by Arizonas suffocating defence and their hot shooting hands. "I dont think you have any of our players saying anything negative about Colorado, saying, Were going to win by 20," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "We dont do that. For us, we have to play the right way. We have to compete hard. And certainly we respect Colorado." Coming off an emotionally draining win over the Sun Devils on Wednesday night that burnished their NCAA tournament credentials, the Buffaloes (20-8, 9-6) came out ice cold, missing their first 14 shots. They trailed 22-5 before Jaron Hopkins sank a 3-pointer from the left side 10:10 into the game. That sparked a 16-4 run by Colorado -- with seven points coming from the free throw line -- to make it 26-21 and force an Arizona timeout. The Wildcats settleed down thanks to a baseline drive by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and a pull-up jumper by T.ddddddddddddJ. McConnell. The only field goal by a Buffaloes starter before halftime came on Askia Bookers jumper with 2 seconds left in the first half. After a horrendous start, however, the Buffaloes clawed their way back before Gordon sank three straight layups and Johnsons jumpers helped the Wildcats pull away. In celebration of senior night, Boyle gave 7-foot centre Ben Mills his first start of his career. He took the place of Josh Scott, who had started every game since Feb. 27, 2013, when he was dealing with a concussion. Scotts absence was quickly felt as Colorado was outrebounded 6-1 and fell behind 8-1 before Scott replaced Mills 2:49 into the game. But the Buffaloes didnt turn things around right away, as the Wildcats built those advantages to 10-3 on the boards and 14-3 on the scoreboard by the 14:39 timeout. Thanks to a 12-3 advantage at the stripe, however, the Buffs trailed just 31-25 at the half after shooting 6-for-27 from the floor. Scott, who led the Buffs with 18 points, sank a jumper to open the second half that made it a four-point game, but the Buffs couldnt get any closer and the Wildcats began to pull away when Kaleb Tarczewskis 3-pointer made it 40-33. "I think we got a little jump shot-happy, but I think thats a credit to them," Scott said. "I think we turned the ball over a couple of times at some key points in the game and its mainly because they pack the paint." About the only thing the crowd had to cheer about by the end was Mills 3-pointer in the final minute, the first of his college career. The 27-point loss was the biggest at home in the Boyle era, and he said it was particularly disconcerting with ESPNs College GameDay crew in town. "Our fans were so ready for this game, for this win, and we gave them nothing," Boyle said. "Thats a sick feeling to go home with and to live with. I havent been embarrassed many times as a coach, but I was embarrassed tonight at the way our team played." His players were, too. "Were all embarrassed, man, really embarrassed," Booker said. "This is something that, whether were on the road or at home, this should never happen again." ' ' '