Kansas City, Mo. ? Jarrod Dyson made the Kansas City Royals’ roster out of spring training because of his speed.

That paid off Friday night, with Dyson scoring the winning run on a sacrifice fly shortstop Alexi Casilla caught in shallow left field with his back to the infield in the eighth inning as the Royals rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins to snap a six-game losing streak.

Kansas City trailed, 3-2, in the bottom of the eighth when Wilson Betemit doubled with one out and moved to third on Kila Ka’ahiue’s single. Dyson ran for Ka’ahiue and stole second on the first pitch as catcher Drew Butera’s throw skipped into center field, allowing Betemit to score the tying run and Dyson to advance to third.

Dyson then came home on Alcides Escobar’s pop up, scoring easily.

“I got a chance to showcase some speed,” Dyson said. “When I saw it go up, I thought it was going to fall in. I saw Casilla running hard, but he would have to set his feet to make a strong throw, but I felt by then I’d be at top speed.”

Dyson said “that’s a first” for him, scoring on a sacrifice fly to shortstop.

“All the years I’ve coached, managed and played in the big leagues, I’ve seen it one other time, and that was Rafael Furcal,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “Dyson read it, tagged and was at full speed in his first step. He was really scooting.

“Dyson has that type of ability, that type of speed that he can win a ball game. He helps us win games in situations late in the game when we need to tie it or we need to win it. That’s proof of that again. You’re not going to see that very often.”

Blake Wood (1-0) worked 12/3 scoreless innings, and Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.

Burnett (0-1), just called up from Triple-A Rochester, took the loss.