KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Danny Duffy keeps winning and so do the Kansas City Royals.Duffy won his 10th straight decision, Eric Hosmer doubled in the go-ahead run and the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1 Sunday for their eighth consecutive win.The Royals swept a four-game series from the Twins for the first time since 1999 and have their longest winning streak since an eight-game run Aug. 3-11, 2014. The Royals have won 13 of 15 since the Rally Mantis showed up in the dugout.We all know as a team we can go on some crazy runs, Hosmer said.Duffy (11-1), unbeaten since June 6, improved to 5-0 with a 1.18 ERA in August. His 2.66 ERA ranks second in the American League, while his .917 winning percent tops the majors.Duffy left after 6 2/3 innings, allowing one run and a season-high eight hits while walking two and striking out four.There was a lot of traffic out there, Duffy said. I made some pitches when I had to. When you dont have your best stuff, you just battle. Thats kind of how I felt today, just get through as many outs as I can and let your defense play behind you. And goodness, didnt they, the defense killed it out there today. Im very happy with the way it went.He outpitched Twins right-hander Ervin Santana (6-10), who allowed two runs and five hits while striking out 10 and walking one over seven innings.They way hes been pitching the last few games, hes lights out, Santana said of Duffy. Hes doing his job. Hes doing what hes supposed to do. He just keeps everybody off balance. He just locates his fastball and his changeup. So, thats what makes him better today.Duffy worked out a no-out, bases loaded jam in the second inning with the help of a couple of fielding gems. After Eddie Rosario struck out, Alex Gordon made a sliding catch of Kurt Suzukis fly to shallow left . Third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert snagged Danny Santanas hard hit grounder and threw out Eduardo Escobar at second base.I thought it could have been his best start in this run, Royals manager Ned Yost said. For the simple reason he was really struggling with command of his fastball. When good pitchers dont have their best stuff, they still find ways to compete at a high level and thats exactly what Danny did with the help of some great defense.Hosmers two-out double in the sixth over the head of center fielder Rosario scored Lorenzo Cain, who had an infield single.Hosmer singled in the second, moved to third on Kendrys Morales double and scored on Alcides Escobars ground out for the first Kansas City run.Santana has a 1.91 ERA in his past 11 starts after beginning the season 1-7 with a 5.10 ERA.Its terrible, man, Twins second baseman Brian Dozier said to be swept by the Royals. Were playing good, it seems like. These past four games weve always make that one mistake and against good teams like Kansas City, its not getting people in, bases loaded, nobody out, thats the ballgame.Robbie Grossman and Trevor Plouffe doubled in the third to produce the only run off Duffy.Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect ninth to log his seventh save in nine chances.MOLITORS BIRTHDAYTwins manager Paul Molitor turns 60 Monday. Theres some plans being made for me, Molitor said. Ill be a willing participant. Itll be nice to have an off day and do some things with the family. But not celebrate, Im past that point.NO MAUER1B Joe Mauer, who is a career .326 hitter with 14 home runs and 111 RBI against the Royals, went 0 for 12 in the series and was not in the lineup Sunday. He grounded out as a pinch hitter in the ninth.SEEING THE LIGHTThe Twins recalled RHP Pat Light, who was acquired from Boston on Aug. 1, from Triple-A Rochester, where he had a 2.57 ERA in six outings. He appeared in two games for the Red Sox this season, giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings.TRAINERS ROOMRoyals: RHP Kris Medlen (rotator cuff inflammation) made a Saturday rehab start for Triple-A Omaha, allowing three runs and two hits, including a home run, and a walk in 1 2/3 innings against Nashville. He threw 22 strikes in 34 pitches.UP NEXTTwins: RHP Kyle Gibson starts the series opener against Detroit on Tuesday. Gibson threw a complete-game Wednesday at Atlanta.Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura starts the series opener at Miami on Tuesday. Ventura is 0-2 in two interleague starts, yielding 11 runs over eight innings. DeMar DeRozan Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Cheap Spurs Jerseys Authentic .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre. http://www.cheapspursjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-tim-duncan-jersey . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Pau Gasol Jersey . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Bruce Bowen Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Slowly but surely, the Matador Cups national footprint is expanding again. Its New South Wales-centric schedule has been a source of considerable angst among other teams since the tournament was moved to an early season carnival format three years ago, but a smattering of matches in Perth and Brisbane this year mean the Blues will not be the only team playing at home.Last seasons competition was affected by the cancellation of Australias Bangladesh tour for security reasons, meaning it was contested by full strength teams across all six states. This time around the scenario is rather different: not only is the Australian ODI team on tour in South Africa, but numerous bowlers, notably Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, are absent injured or resting.This means a knock-on effect for numerous states, most notably South Australia. The reward for emergent displays in both the Matador Cup and the Sheffield Shield last year mean than no fewer than four first-choice Redbacks - Travis Head, Adam Zampa, Daniel Worrall and Joe Mennie - are in South Africa. The coach Jamie Siddons has acknowledged the challenge ahead.We feel ready despite missing bowlers from last years attack and its going to be difficult without them, Siddons said. But we have a couple of young guys that have some tricks in their repertoire. Its not going to be easy or the same, we have to find another way of doing it with different types of players and were ready and aiming for similar success.I think its really exciting watching the young guys play and the next step is to promote a few more of them like Jake Lehmann, Jake Weatherald, Alex Ross and Alex Carey - who are all really good chances of pushing their names forward now. Our aim is to be successful again and win games and if those guys step up like I think they will we should match last year - maybe were looking at batsmen to step up instead of the bowlers this time.Victoria are another state needing to reach deeper into their squad for bowlers in particular, with John Hastings, Scott Boland and Chris Tremain in South Africa and Peter Siddle and James Pattinson still working their way back from injury. The new coach Andrew McDonald, only recently returned from Leicestershire to replace David Saker, must also work with Glennn Maxwell in the aftermath of the enigmatic allrounders ill-timed bid to move to NSW for the summer.ddddddddddddMcDonalds old Bushrangers team-mate Brad Hodge has s still more vexing task as the mentor of the Cricket Australia XI, a youthful hodgepodge (no pun intended) of players from across the states who did not make it into the first-choice squads. This is the second of a two-year experiment with the XI, designed to provide additional opportunities for young players against the best of domestic players.The concept has not been universally loved, even if the CA XI recovered last season from a horrid start to win a game over Tasmania and produce a handful of players - Hilton Cartwright, Mitch Swepson, Jimmy Peirson - able to progress further over the course of the season that followed. Many among the states feel the team is emblematic of CAs desire for central developmental control, rather than simply building the most competitive tournament possible. A lack of any senior players to leaven out the youth, even with the likes of Ben Rohrer, Chris Hartley and Chadd Sayers available, has only heightened that impression.Justin Langer, coach of Western Australia, spoke for many of the tension between development and competition. The Sheffield Shield too has been subject to numerous stratagems designed to help the Australian team overall, but experiments like pink ball matches and the use of Dukes balls for a portion of the shield this season has left Langer and others questioning their wisdom.We make Cricket Australia very aware that we have to keep the integrity of the game, he said. We have the best domestic competition in the world, but it is frustrating at times. This season we will play two pink-ball games, three with red Kookaburras and five with Dukes balls and hopefully six with the Dukes. I like consistency.Consistent or not, the Matador will afford many players the chance to either secure their state spots at the outset of the season, or put their names in lights for Australian selection into the future. Whether in Perth, Brisbane or Sydney, many a selection question will get closer to being answered. ' ' '