Brian Flynn replaced Kennedy in the ninth and pitched a spotless inning to complete the shutout.
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Hosmer’s two-out double in the sixth over the head of centre fielder Rosario scored Lorenzo Cain, who had an infield single.
The Royals are going for the sweep and have won 10 of 12 games against this season against the Twins.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Right-hander Luis Cessa, in his first major league start, pitched six-plus shutout innings to lead NY to a win over Los Angeles in front of a sellout crowd of 44,129 at Angel Stadium.
Cessa (3-0) conceded just three hits, one walk and one hit batter while amassing five strikeouts and inducing eight groundouts in six-plus innings.
LHP Adalberto Mejia, acquired by the Twins from the Giants in a July 28 trade for Eduardo Nunez, was recalled from Triple-A Rochester, where he was 1-2 with a 4.66 ERA in three starts.
Elsewhere, the New York Yankees lost 2-0 to the Los Angeles Angels, the Milwaukee Brewers squeezed past the Seattle Mariners 7-6, and the San Diego Padres claimed a convincing 9-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose chief baseball officer Tony La Russa is reportedly under pressure. Kennedy got out of that when Robbie Grossman popped up a bunt that catcher Salvador Perez caught and Kurt Suzuki flied out to right to end the inning.
PHILADELPHIA – Cesar Hernandez homered, doubled and singled, and Jeremy Hellickson pitched seven strong innings in Philadelphia’s victory over St. Louis.
Left-hander Duffy navigated his way into and out of trouble in the second inning.
Dodgers 4, Reds 0 • Chase Utley homered on the fourth pitch of the game, 20-year-old Julio Urias won his third straight decision and Los Angeles won at Cincinnati. Maikel Franco had two hits, including a double and the winning RBI, and Aaron Altherr homered for the Phillies.
Alex Gordan continues to swing a hot bat hitting 2 solo home runs.
SAN FRANCISCO – Yoenis Cespedes belted two home runs, powering NY out of its losing streak and to a victory over San Francisco.
The key inning came in second.
Houston, which mustered 14 hits, can take the four-game series with a victory Sunday.
Fiers (9-6) put together an effective outing after struggling over his past two starts when he allowed nine runs, including five homers, over just 9 2-3 innings.
ATLANTA – Ryan Zimmerman showed no rust in his return from the disabled list with three hits, including a homer on the first pitch he saw, in Washington’s win over Atlanta at Turner Field. He was getting the call all night about three or four inches off.
1B Joe Mauer, who is a career.326 hitter with 14 home runs and 111 RBIs against the Royals, went 0 for 12 in the series and was not in the lineup Sunday. And there’s been a couple that have gotten away from him in the last week or so. He allowed only one runner past second base.
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Ray (7-11) struck out a career-high 13 over seven innings and all he gave up was a 451-foot homer by Patrick Kivlehan in the outfielder’s major league debut. Grossman led off the fifth with a single before Miguel Sano grounded into a double play. KC starter Ian Kennedy upped his record to 8-9 behind a four hitter through eight scoreless innings. The only Met to reach was pitcher Noah Syndergaard, who walked with two outs in the third after narrowly missing a home run.
