MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Gordon, Salvador Perez and Josh Willingham homered, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 12-6 on Sunday for their 20th win in their last 25 games.

Kansas City sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven times in the second, keyed by two-run singles for Alcides Escobar and Nori Aoki. The Royals also increased their AL Central lead to 1 1/2 games over Detroit, which lost 8-1 to Seattle.

This is the latest the Royals have been in first place since 2003.

Kansas City’s Jeremy Guthrie (9-10) returned to the mound after a 54-minute rain delay in the fourth and lasted seven innings, yielding home runs to Joe Mauer and Kennys Vargas.