KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After their hard-hit contact seemed to find Kansas City Royals gloves all series, it was only fitting that Brooks Lee’s squeaker made the difference for the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.Stymied by the Royals yet again, the Twins rallied for their third comeback victory in the past 10 days over their interdivisional foes. Lee’s two-run single in the eighth inning capped a 4-3 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium, one that snapped a four-game Twins losing streak.Even though the Twins narrowly avoided a series sweep, they still managed to gain ground in the American League Central after the New York Mets swept the Cleveland Guardians and the Boston Red Sox did the same to the Chicago White Sox. The Twins, who are only a half-game back in the AL wild-card race, are tied for second place in the division with Cleveland, three back of Chicago.“That’s this fricking game,” Lee said. “It’s going to beat you down. I feel like it’s been beating us down, but luckily, we scraped away with a win. We were smoking balls all over the place. They keep getting f—ing caught, which is brutal. I’m glad we got it.”Twins chairman Tom Pohlad discusses the team's trade deadline strategyDan HayesIn two of three games in the series, the Twins finished with a higher expected batting average than Kansas City, but the team’s hard-hit contact didn’t translate into runs.Whether the Royals did an outstanding job with their positioning, or in Bobby Witt Jr.’s case, turned a critical double play in a one-run game Wednesday, the Twins couldn’t get much offense going.“Stifled is the good word,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said.As a whole, the series was representative of what the Twins have endured offensively since the All-Star break. Through Wednesday, the Twins scored three runs or fewer in 11 of 18 games since returning and only 64 overall. Some of that can be attributed to facing good pitching in Cleveland and Seattle or going up against a team that’s seemingly had their number all year in Kansas City. The absence of Byron Buxton undoubtedly is playing a role, too.But simply put, the Twins haven’t been able to escape a rut.Early Thursday, it seemed like more of the same.Royce Lewis lined out to deep center in his first at-bat, and Lee followed by ripping a 103 mph liner Royals first baseman Jac Caglianone caught and converted into an easy-inning double play.Lewis alone hit balls with exit velocities of 106.1 mph, 108.2 and 108.2. All three went for outs, and the Twins finished 3-for-11 on hard-hit balls. Though the frustration continued, Shelton sensed his club might be in for a rally.