Minnesota’s Joe Mauer drives the ball into center for an RBI single in the sixth inning. Mauer went 3-for-3, and the Twins defeated the Royals, 5-1, on Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? Joe Mauer has enough hits to lead the major leagues in batting average. Soon, he’ll have enough plate appearances.

Mauer went 3-for-3 Wednesday in the Minnesota Twins’ 5-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals, raising his average to .392. He’s eight plate appearances short of the 3.1 per game needed to qualify for the batting race.

“If I have anything to do with it, he’ll qualify,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I don’t mind writing his name in there. He’ll get plenty of at-bats.”

With Michael Cuddyer hitting a long home run and Glen Perkins holding the Royals to one run, the Twins ended a 6-3 trip.

“It’s nice to shake hands after a game on the road,” said Mauer, who sandwiched two walks around three singles off Gil Meche (4-8).

“I felt like I went in there knowing Meche,” he said. “He’s got great stuff. I was just trying to keep it simple, go up the middle, and it seemed to work. I felt a lot better. That’s how it is, you feel pretty good heading into an off day.”

The Twins improved to two games over .500 for the first time all year.

Seven times earlier this season, they’d reached one game over only to fall back.

“We’re there,” said Cuddyer, whose 398-foot home run gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second. “Hopefully, we can continue to win so we don’t have to hear about it any more.”