KANSAS CITY, Mo. Dylan DeMelo Jersey . -- Royals manager Ned Yost turned to pitching coach Dave Eiland in the fifth inning Saturday and told him that Kansas City was going to have to protect a one-run lead against Minnesota. The way his bullpen has been going, there was no need to worry. Danny Duffy, Wade Davis and Greg Holland allowed one walk and no hits over the final four innings, and the Royals held on for a scrappy 5-4 victory over the Twins. "Theyve been lights-out, and theyre starting to get accustomed to the season," Yost said of his relief corps, which helped starter Jason Vargas polish off a shutout in the series opener. The Royals have won five straight after getting swept last weekend in Minnesota. "We all compete together," Holland said. "We take it upon ourselves that were one unit out there. You throw in the competitiveness and you expect your teammates to pick you up." Bruce Chen (1-1) allowed all four runs on eight hits and four walks, but the damage could have been a whole lot worse. The crafty left-hander twice walked the bases loaded, and his only clean inning was the first, when Brian Dozier hit a fly out that nearly left the park. Still, a five-run fourth inning off Kevin Correia (1-1) staked Chen to a lead, and one of the best bullpens in baseball last season made it stand up on a sun-splashed afternoon. Duffy tossed two scoreless innings, and Davis navigated a perfect eighth before turning the game over to Holland, who set down the top of the Minnesota lineup for his sixth save. The Royals are 9-0 when scoring at least four runs. Theyre 0-7 scoring three or fewer. "When we get that magic number," DH Billy Butler said, "were hard to beat." Kurt Suzuki homered and drove in three runs for the Twins, and Aaron Hicks also drove in a run. But it wasnt enough for Correia, who wound up allowing all five runs, four of them earned. The Twins didnt help him much with their shaky defence. Left fielder Jason Kubel lost a fly ball in the glaring sun and it fell for a double in the second inning. Then in the fourth, right fielder Chris Colabello misplayed a fly off the bat of Billy Butler that ended up at the warning track and put runners on second and third. "I took a chop step in and kind of froze. I didnt think he hit it that good," Colabello said. "Obviously theres nobody who feels worse about it than I do. Everything was being pushed toward centre. When I froze I got turned around." That was the start of the Royals game-changing charge. Mike Moustakas followed with a sacrifice fly and Justin Maxwell added an RBI single to tie the game. Alcides Escobar was plunked on the elbow, and Nori Aoki followed with a go-ahead single. Moments later, Escobar and Aoki took off on a double steal, and Twins catcher Josmil Pinto threw the ball into left field, allowing both runners to advance and making it 4-2. Omar Infante added a single to cap the five-run inning and give Kansas City a comfy cushion. "Were a starting staff that pitches to contact. We pride ourselves on making plays," Correia said. "These guys are going to come back and play good defence." The Twins got two runs back on Suzukis single in the fifth, but Chen managed to get Hicks to ground out with a pair of runners on board to preserve his one-run lead. "Some good things happened. Unfortunately, we had one bad inning and it cost us a ballgame," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "If we make the plays were supposed to make we win." NOTES: RHP Yordano Ventura pitches the series finale Sunday for Kansas City. RHP Phil Hughes is on the mound for Minnesota. ... Hicks collided with Colabello while making a catch at the wall in the fifth inning. Both players were OK. ... Twins 1B Joe Mauer, celebrating his 31st birthday, delivered a bunt single and scored in the fifth. ... Yost expects OF Jarrod Dyson (bereavement list) to return Monday. Tomas Hertl Jersey . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Brandon Mashinter Jersey . More importantly, he is trying to show his young teammates the Colorado are still post-season contenders. He hopes winning a series at home was a fresh start. http://www.sharksauthority.com/authentic-melker-karlsson-sharks-jersey/ . Felix Pie had an RBI double earlier in the inning, as Baltimore rallied for three runs to overcome a 3-2 deficit. J.J. Hardy had two hits and Matt Wieters chipped in with an RBI double for the Orioles, who pushed their winning streak to three games.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, In the Boston-Buffalo game on Wednesday night in the second period, Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers slashes Bruins forward Brad Marchand and then punches him in the head! How and why does Marchand get the penalty, with no call on Myers? He then scores a go-ahead goal! My question would be - does a supervising official between periods give the refs the talking down a player would get from his coach? This call could cost a team two points on very questionable officiating! Thanks,Ken MacAskill Ken: Both you and broadcast analyst Joe Micheletti made the correct call on this play. At the very least the Bruins and Sabres should have been playing four men aside as a result of the altercation between Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. In a perfect world, Myers deserved an extra minor penalty as the aggressor in this incident following his slash and punch at Marchand. You asked how and why, only Brad Marchand received the penalty on this play. The trailing referee is responsible for all players behind the Sabres blue line. As the Sabres went on the attack from their end zone, Marchand cut across the ice toward his bench for a line change and in doing so skated directly in front of Myers. The altercation began when Marchand dropped his hip toward Myers who responded with a cross-check shove, a slash by each player and then the Myers punch. At this point play was stopped to assess a penalty. The camera picked up the trailing referee with his arm raised and approaching the two players on an angle back from the neutral zone toward Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. From the referees angle of return it is apparent to me that he had vacated the Sabres end zone prior to players clearing that zone and failed to recognize and observe the hot spot between Marchand and Myers. I dont believe the ref saw the start of the altercation but picked it up when Brad Marchand jammed his stick into Myers midsection. He therefore deemed Marchand to be the instigator of the scrum. The easy call should have been to penalize both players for their actions. Unfortunately that didnt take place and resulted in a Tyler Myers power-play goal. Officiating managers (supervisors) very seldom enter the officials room between periods unless something extremely serious has gone afoul. Instead, the manager will review his observations and game report with the officiaals at the conclusion of the game. Cheap Sharks Jerseys. In certain cases, depending upon travel schedules or a perceived need, a follow-up telephone call or even breakfast meeting might take place with an official. Typically though any instruction/coaching will take place in the officials dressing room after the game. There was a time when supervisors entered the room between periods but team management objected to this practice when they felt the officials approach to the game changed to drastically following between period instructions. I dont agree with this practice in principle, but whenever the conversation does take place the supervisors proper approach and coaching techniques are vital in advancing the officials learning curve. When I observe a Division I College game for my former colleague and referee-in-chief of the ECAC Paul Stewart, I always visit the officials room between periods; if for no other reason but to be supportive and available should they have any questions. My approach is always to be positive and point out the good things they did but also to make them aware of any potential hot spots that might develop in addition to any positioning issues I feel the need to address. The game can certainly look different from the press box or the television monitor than it does at ice level. In a flash from the past, when I first signed a contract with the NHL there was a different and much more aggressive approach taken by the supervisors of that day which could be very intimidating for an official; especially a young one. Team general managers were not fined for approaching the officials room and shouting matches often took place in the hall outside the refs room. Supervisors were subjected to angry rants from team personnel in the press box which could result in a between period visit to the officials room by a supervisor. I can tell you there were trash cans kicked around the officials room and rolled up programs thrown at the wall in some of these "coaching" sessions. As you can imagine they werent very productive from a teaching perspective but could have a profound effect on how the next period was officiated! In todays fast paced game the two referee two linesman system is mandatory. An influx of younger officials has been hired to the staff when the veterans retire. Enhanced coaching and mentoring techniques are required to quicken the learning curve that takes place in addition to holding all the officials accountable to the expected standard. This is a work in progress. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Hockey Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap Nike MLB Jerseys China Wholesale Baseball Jerseys China Wholesale College Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Wholesale Jerseys Near Me Cheap Jerseys Online Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic Cheap Nike NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic MLB Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Throwback Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '