Minneapolis • Bruce Chen bounced back with a solid start and the Kansas City Royals completed a sweep for their fifth straight win, beating Minnesota 3-1 Thursday and handing the Twins their fifth loss in a row.
The Royals outscored Minnesota 17-3 in sweeping the three-game series. They finished the season with a 15-4 record against their AL Central rival.
Chen (6-2) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2-3 innings. In his past two starts, he allowed 13 runs in nine innings.
Kelvin Herrera and Will Smith combined for 2 1-3 innings of scoreless relief. Greg Holland pitched a scoreless ninth for his 36th save in 38 chances.
Twins hitters batted just batted 15 for 91 (.165) in the series. Brian Dozier homered for Minnesota, which has totaled just six runs during its losing skid.
Alcides Escobar, Chris Getz and Alex Gordon hit RBI singles for the Royals.