Whit Merrifield went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and four RBIs, and Danny Duffy picked up his first victory of the season as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, to earn a split of their doubleheader on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Nicky Lopez and Cam Gallagher each had two hits and a run scored for the Royals who defeated Minnesota for the fourth time in five games this season.

Duffy (1-2) allowed two hits and two runs -- though only one was earned, a fourth-inning homer by Nelson Cruz -- over five innings while improving to 5-2 in 12 career games at Target Field. He walked one and struck out eight, including three in the fifth inning.

Trevor Rosenthal gave up a leadoff walk to Max Kepler in the seventh but rebounded to strike out Byron Buxton, Jake Cave and Eddie Rosario all in a row to garner his fifth save in five chances.

Jose Berrios (1-3) lost to the Royals for the second time in seven days, allowing four runs on five hits in four innings. Berrios walked a season-high four batters and struck out seven.

The Twins, who won Saturday's first game 4-2, took a 1-0 lead in the first inning with an unearned run. Mitch Garver led off and reached safely when first baseman Ryan O'Hearn dropped shortstop Adalberto Mondesi's throw. Garver advanced to second on a single by Jorge Polanco, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Marwin Gonzalez.

Kansas City tied it in the second when Lopez led off with a single, went to third on a hit-and-run single by Gallagher and scored on a single by Merrifield.

The Royals then took a 4-1 lead in the fourth on Merrifield's fifth homer of the season, a three-run blast to left.

Cruz, who lined a 448-foot two-run home run off the front of the third deck in left in the opener, cut it to 4-2 with a 432-foot leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth to dead center, his sixth home run of the season.

--Field Level Media