MINNEAPOLIS — Ervin Santana heard his name bandied about in trade rumors in recent weeks, with yet another season threatening to swirl down the drain in Kansas City.
Thanks to a post-All-Star break surge, the Royals no longer appear to be in selling mode.
Mike Moustakas homered twice and drove in four runs to back another strong start by Santana, and the Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2 Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory.
Santana (7-6) gave up two runs on four hits and struck out eight in seven innings and Eric Hosmer had three hits and an RBI for the Royals, who have won nine of 11 coming out of the All-Star break. At 52-51, they are over .500 for the first time since May 18.
"Everything so far (is going right)," Santana said. "Our defense, offense, pitching very good. Everything is very good for us right now."
Mike Pelfrey (4-9) gave up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in four innings for the Twins. Joe Mauer had two hits and an RBI after missing the last week for the birth of his twin girls.
Santana retired the last 10 batters he faced, striking out five of them. Miguel Tejada added two hits and an RBI.
"He's the magic man," Moustakas said of Santana. "It's awesome. Any time he goes out on the mound, you know he's going to deal, you know he's going to hold them under two runs and we just gotta go score a couple for him."
