Rick Ankiel hit one of his two homers in the second inning to spot Gil Meche a lead, but Jim Thome answered with a two run homer apart of a five run second as the Twins won their third in a row and second straight against the Royals 6-5.
The new editions of the Twins, Thome, J.J. Hardy and Orland Hudson combined for two homers and three RBIs. Meche settled in to pitch six innings after that awful second as the Royals mounted a bit of comeback.
Ankiel would hit his second homer of the game off Nick Blackburn in the fourth and the Royals added two more in the fifth on RBI hits from Willie Bloomquist and Scott Podsednik to tie the game at 5-5.
In the seventh, John Parrish gave up his first run of the season, a home run by Hudson to give the Twins the lead. John Rauch picked up his sixth save for Minnesota who hasn’t lost a beat with their closer Joe Nathan out with an injury. The Twins are 4-1 at their new Target Field.
