MINNEAPOLIS | It came down Saturday night to a matchup between unlikely All-Stars in the eighth inning, and Michael Cuddyer lined an RBI single against Aaron Crow that lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Royals.</p><p> &#x93;I just hung a slider,&#x94; Crow said. &#x93;He&#x92;s a good enough hitter that you can&#x92;t do that in a situation like that. I&#x92;ve just got to do a better job of locating that pitch when I&#x92;m ahead in the count.&#x94;</p><p> Crow was ahead 1-2 in the count when he came with a hard slider in hopes of a strikeout with runners at first and third with one out.</p><p> &#x93;It was up a little bit,&#x94; catcher Brayan Pe&#xF1;a said, &#x93;but that was a good piece of hitting by Cuddyer. </p><p>&#x93;Aaron&#x92;s slider is one of the hardest in the big leagues. You&#x92;ve got to give credit to (Cuddyer). He did a good job of connecting on that ball.&#x94;</p><p> Cuddyer&#x92;s single snapped a 3-3 tie, and the one-run lead was enough because, unlike Friday &#x97; when the Royals rallied in the ninth against Matt Capps &#x97; the Twins called on Joe Nathan, a long-time nemesis, to close out the game.</p><p> Nathan responded with a scoreless inning for his 36th career save against the Royals.</p><p> Cuddyer&#x92;s game-winning hit came against Crow, but it stuck left-hander Jeff Francis, 3-11, with a loss. Francis opened the Twins&#x92; eighth by making an acrobatic flip from his glove hand to thwart speedy Ben Revere&#x92;s bid for a bunt single.</p><p> Then it slipped away.</p><p> Alexi Casilla followed with a single that fell in front of a diving Jeff Francoeur in right before Joe Mauer pulled a well-placed grounder through the right side that moved Casilla to third.</p><p> &#x93;I lost concentration on one pitch to Casilla,&#x94; Francis said, &#x93;and I left a change-up up. He hit it. The pitch to Mauer was down. He hit the ball on the ground, but it found a hole.</p><p> &#x93;It&#x92;s a tough one to lose. I&#x92;ve pitched well but just not well enough. That&#x92;s on me.&#x94;</p><p> In came Crow to face Cuddyer. The two were American League teammates earlier in the week at the All-Star Game. Crow gained an early edge in the count before Cuddyer served an RBI single into center field.</p><p> &#x93;In a situation like that,&#x94; Crow said, &#x93;you can&#x92;t afford to make a mistake, especially with a runner on third. I&#x92;m trying to get a strikeout. If I throw a ball, then I can go back to trying to get him to hit into a double play.&#x94;</p><p> Minnesota starter Carl Pavano got his 100th career victory with a complete game in his last outing against the Royals on June 3 at Kauffman Stadium. </p><p> This time, the Twins backed Pavano with two runs in the first inning before extending their lead to 3-0 in the fourth. But he couldn&#x92;t hold it. Pavano turned over a 3-3 game to Glen Perkins to start the eighth inning.</p><p> Perkins blew through the top three hitters in the Royals&#x92; lineup by retiring Chris Getz on a weak grounder to first before striking out Melky Cabrera and Alex Gordon.</p><p> Perkins, 1-1, got the victory when the Twins scored later in the inning.</p><p> The Royals rallied from a 3-0 deficit on Alcides Escobar&#x92;s two-run homer in the fifth and Eric Hosmer&#x92;s run-scoring grounder in the sixth. Hosmer produced the tying run after a takeout slide by Alex Gordon prevented a double play on a Billy Butler grounder.</p><p> That snatched a victory from Pavano and positioned Francis for a possible victory. Francis retired 11 in a row after yielding a homer to Drew Butera in the fourth before Casilla&#x92;s one-out single in the eighth.</p><p> &#x93;He pitched great,&#x94; manager Ned Yost said of Francis. &#x93;It&#x92;s the mirror image of his season right there. Pitch great and have nothing to show for it. The first inning, he struggled with the ball up.</p><p> &#x93;After that, he made his adjustments and started getting the ball down, changing speeds and working the corners.&#x94;</p><p> Yost defended the decision to send Francis back to the mound in the eighth inning on a hot, sticky night at Target Field even though the Twins had the top of the order coming up.</p><p> &#x93;He was throwing the ball really well,&#x94; Yost said. &#x93;I liked the fact he&#x92;d had good success against the top of that order. (Revere, Casilla and Mauer were a combined one for eight prior to the eighth). He just wasn&#x92;t going to face Cuddyer.&#x94;