KANSAS CITY, MO. — In many ways, the Royals handed the Twins a 9-4 victory on Friday night.

Robinson Tejeda issued a career-high seven walks, and two of those came with the bases loaded. Juan Cruz relieved Tejeda and issued another bases-loaded walk. Three in a row for goodness sakes.

The error that Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt made earlier in that fifth inning on Matt Tolbert’s potential double play grounder “changed the whole outcome of the game,” Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano said.

But sprinkled in that mess, the Twins did some good things, too, as they climbed within two games of first-place Detroit.

Nick Punto scored from second base on Tejeda’s third-inning wild pitch, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. To that point, Tejeda hadn’t given up a hit.

“With two outs and two strikes [on Orlando Cabrera], I thought it was worth the risk,” Punto said. “And it paid off for us.”

It certainly electrified the Twins bench. Then, after Michael Cuddyer smashed his 30th home run in the fourth inning, Jose Morales drew a leadoff walk to open the fifth. Next came Betancourt’s error, and Punto advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.

Afterward, Manager Ron Gardenhire mentioned that bunt amid the flurry of positive things he saw from his team. Tejeda walked Denard Span to load the bases, Orlando Cabrera made it 3-1 with an RBI single, and then Tejeda came unglued.

PAVANO NOT PLEASED

Pavano held the Royals to four runs over six innings, but he was disappointed with himself. After a long half-inning, while the Twins batted around, Pavano gave up a leadoff double to No. 9 batter Josh Anderson before walking Mitch Maier, setting the table for Billy Butler’s three-run homer.

“I’m not really happy I go out there with a 6-1 lead in the fifth and give up [three runs],” Pavano said. “That’s not the way you want to pitch with a lead. You’ve gotta be aggressive and let these guys put the ball in play, and I was a little defensive there.”

Pavano is now 4-3 with a 3.84 ERA in 10 starts for the Twins.

PADDING THE LEAD

Give the Twins credit for adding to their lead, taking pressure off their bullpen and giving closer Joe Nathan another night of rest. They refused to be complacent.

Span had a two-out bunt single in the sixth and stole second base, moving to third on Cabrera’s infield single. That put runners at the corners for Joe Mauer, who finally got a pitch to hit after three walks and grounded to second base.

After Cuddyer singled in the seventh, Delmon Young made it 7-4 with an RBI triple, just his second triple of the season. With two outs that inning, Matt Tolbert made it 8-4 with a bloop single to left field, scoring Young, and Young added his ninth homer the next inning.

Pavano knew his outing might have meant a loss on a lot of nights. “Fortunately, I had some runs to work with,” he said.

Notes: The Twins have never had four players with 90 RBI, but they are getting very close. Justin Morneau has 100, Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel both reached 90 on Friday, and Michael Cuddyer reached 88. … On Saturday, the Twins will send Scott Baker (13-9, 4.43 ERA) to the mound, opposite Royals lefty Lenny DiNardo (0-1, 8.22). First pitch is at 6:10 p.m., so check back here for the starting lineups.

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