Kansas City, Mo. ? The Royals were trailing the Twins by a run in the ninth inning Tuesday night, and Kansas City manager Ned Yost was on the top step of the dugout, conferring with catching coach Pedro Grifol about the potential decisions he would have to make.

That’s when Yost heard a voice pipe up.

“The bat boy who never says anything turns around and says, ‘Esky is going to get a hit, and Gordo’s taking him in the fountain,'” Yost said. “I said, ‘OK. Sounds like a pretty good plan.'”

One that worked out perfectly, too.

Alcides Escobar led off with a blooper to shallow right for a single, and Alex Gordon swatted the second pitch he saw over the right-field wall to give the AL Central-leading Royals a dramatic 2-1 victory over Minnesota — and help them avoid their first three-game skid since mid-July.

“Got a slider over the plate and put a good swing on it,” Gordon said. “Really didn’t have any offense going all night and was able to muster up something, so that was great.”

Wade Davis (7-2) earned the win with a perfect ninth inning in relief.

Danny Duffy allowed four hits and a pair of walks over 62/3 innings, but was in line for the loss.

“I don’t think anybody saw that coming,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, “a bloop and a blast and a big walk-off for them.”

SPARSE CROWD

There were only 13,847 fans in attendance, and the empty seats certainly caught Yost’s eye. “We’re in a pennant race,” he said. “We’ve been working hard to try to make our fans happy and make our fans proud of us for a lot of years, and we’d like them out here to enjoy a night like this with us, because this was a special night. A fun night. I just wish there could have been more out here to enjoy it with us.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: OF Byron Buxton, one of baseball’s top prospects, is headed for the Arizona Fall League. Buxton is still recovering from post-concussion symptoms — primarily headaches — that he sustained after an outfield collision at Double-A New Britain on Aug. 13.

Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura will miss his start Wednesday night with soreness in his back, and 2B Omar Infante could miss a couple days with shoulder inflammation. “Everybody is dealing with something this time of year,” Yost said. “My feet hurt.”

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Phil Hughes (14-8, 3.65 ERA) tries to win his fifth straight when he faces Kansas City for the fifth time this season.

Royals: RHP Liam Hendriks makes his Royals debut after arriving in a trade from Toronto. Hendriks spent his first three seasons with Minnesota. “It’ll be interesting,” Hendriks said of facing his former team. “It could be really good or really bad.”