Minneapois ? The Kansas City Royals had the opportunity to turn a solid road trip into an excellent six-game stretch.

Dillon Gee didn’t hold up his end of the responsibility.

Miguel Sano hit the go-ahead, two-run home run in the fifth inning after Minnesota lost an early lead, and the Twins staved off another series sweep Wednesday by beating the Royals, 7-5.

Eduardo Nunez and Brian Dozier each homered, too, the first two batters to face Gee (1-2) and just the fifth pair in Twins history to go deep in their first two plate appearances of the game.

“You put your team behind the eight ball early, which isn’t a good feeling,” Gee said. “I just tried to battle out there.”

Tyler Duffey (2-3) gave away a 3-0 lead during a five-run fourth by the Royals, but the right-hander hung around long enough to become the first Twins starter this season to record his second victory. The rotation has totaled six wins. There were 11 pitchers in the major leagues with seven or more victories when the day began.

The Twins (12-34) have trailed at some point in all but two of their games this year. They were in trouble after Eric Hosmer hit a two-run double to halt a 2-for-22 slide, and the sizzling Salvador Perez tied the game with another double.

“Hos is one of the best players we got on this team,” manager Ned Yost said. “Every time he steps in that box, you expect something special to happen.”

Omar Infante added a two-out RBI triple and trotted home on Duffey’s wild pitch.