Guthrie gives Royals big reason to celebrate

KANSAS CITY -- Long before Jarrod Dyson and Lorenzo Cain's heroics in the 10th inning lifted the Royals to a 3-2 walk-off win, starter Jeremy Guthrie kept it close on Friday night.

Guthrie turned in his second straight quality start -- first time he has done that this season -- and held the Twins to just two runs through 7 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four in a start the Royals, who had lost four straight, badly needed.

"Another great start by him," manager Ned Yost said. "Two runs in eight innings -- he just kept us in it. He was just throwing the ball so well."

Guthrie's finest moment came in the sixth when a throwing error by third baseman Mike Moustakas and a dropped popup by second baseman Omar Infante put two on with two out. But Guthrie came back and struck out Twins rookie Miguel Sano on a 95-mph fastball at the letters after Sano had doubled and singled in earlier at-bats.

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"The thing about Guthrie is he doesn't panic and or get excited," Yost said. "He just doesn't."

Said Guthrie of that moment, which kept the Royals within 2-1, "It's tough. Our defense has been great. Moose made a great snare of the ball just to get it before he threw it high. Ninety-five percent of the third basemen wouldn't have even gotten that ball. And the popup, it's always a tough blue sky at that time of night, sixth or seventh inning. That's the worst time to see a popup.

"Fortunately, we got out of it."

Guthrie was able to watch the winning rally on TV as he was getting his arm iced.

"Hopefully it's a good momentum builder for us," he said. "First win that's a walk-off and it's in front of a big crowd. It's exciting."