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Cole Ragans struck out seven in six shutout innings as the Kansas City Royals beat the visiting Minnesota Twins, 5-0, on Friday night.

The win propelled Kansas City (77-65) past Minnesota (76-65) into second place in the American League Central.

Ragans (11-9) has 204 strikeouts, the most whiffs by a left-handed pitcher in a single season in Royals history and fifth-most in a season all-time for Kansas City. He allowed four hits and walked one, winning for the first time since also beating the Twins on Aug. 14.

Tommy Pham’s one-out RBI double put the Royals ahead 1-0 in the third.

Pham and Bobby Witt Jr. combined to throw out Kyle Farmer at the plate trying to score on Austin Martin’s double into the left-field corner, ending the fourth inning and preserving the one-run lead.

In the bottom half of the frame, Michael Massey drilled a two-out solo homer into the right-field bullpen, his 12th.

Massey had three of Kansas City’s nine hits against Twins starter Zebby Matthews and is 5-for-6 in two games against Matthews, who allowed four runs with one walk and four strikeouts in five innings.

Matthews (1-3) is 0-3 with an 8.47 ERA over his last four starts.

Hunter Renfroe delivered a two-out, two-run single in the fifth, increasing the Royals’ lead to 4-0. Renfroe had a pair of singles in his return to the Kansas City lineup after missing 12 games due to a right hamstring strain.

Yuli Gurriel’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly capped the scoring.

Royals pitchers recorded their seventh shutout this season while winning back-to-back games for the first time since Aug. 26-27. Three relievers struck out four in three hitless innings.

The Twins were held to four hits, and only two runners advanced beyond first base.

They were shut out for the ninth time and have lost eight of their last 12 but still retain the third wild-card spot.

–Field Level Media