Kansas City, Mo. — Joe Mauer made manager Ron Gardenhire's idea look like a stroke of genius.
Gardenhire, seeking to boost Minnesota's offense, decided to bat Jacque Jones in the cleanup position Tuesday night, hoping to get Mauer a few more good pitches. All Mauer did was hit a single, double and triple and lead the Twins to a 7-4 victory over Kansas City.
"It was one of those nights I was seeing it well," said Mauer, who scored twice and had two RBIs. "Maybe it had something to do with Jacque moving behind me. I had a couple of good at-bats. But tonight it felt good, felt comfortable at the plate."
He had a triple in the first inning, a single in the third and a double in the sixth, all off Jose Lima (5-13). Needing a home run for the cycle, he grounded out in the seventh and bounced hard into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the ninth.
He admitted he did take one home-run hack.
"It was a good pitch. I just fouled it back," he said. "But I was just trying to hit the ball hard somewhere. I hit it hard, but both times right at people."
Justin Morneau hit a towering three-run homer off Jimmy Gobble to cap a five-run sixth inning and send the Twins to their 11th victory in 14 games against the Royals this season.
Kansas City again hurt itself with fundamental mistakes, two on the base paths.
"Some of the things we do fundamentally, just the intangibles, it's just incredible at this level," manager Buddy Bell said. "I have a hard time watching it sometimes. There's no question we have people on this team who are going to be here when we're good. But right now there's a lot of things they need to learn."
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