MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins can’t seem to explain why they have so much success against Kansas City ace Zack Greinke. For whatever reason, they just seem to have Greinke’s number.

If they keep playing the way they have been recently, it won’t be long before they have Chicago’s number as well.

Brian Duensing allowed one run and struck out seven over eight innings and the Twins continued an impressive run of success against Greinke with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.

Duensing (8-2) allowed six hits and dropped his ERA to 2.02. J.J. Hardy homered and Denard Span added a two-run triple for the Twins, who have won six straight games to take a 5 1/2-game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central.

“If you can beat Greinke, it’s a good win,” said Duensing, whose Twins went 8-1 on the homestand.

Greinke (8-12) fell to 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA against the Twins this season. He allowed four runs and five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in eight innings.

“It’s like they make adjustments faster than I can make adjustments,” Greinke said. “Every time they get on base, they strung a rally together. Instead of stopping them when I needed to they come up with big hits.”

The Royals scored twice in the ninth off Matt Capps on a groundout from Brayan Pena and a single from Alex Gordon. But Capps got pinch-hitter Mitch Maier to fly out for his 11th save in 13 tries.

Duensing, who was moved from the bullpen to the rotation on July 23 to take the place of the struggling Nick Blackburn, has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts.

“Duensing was unbelievable,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’re facing one of the best pitchers in our league and it’s always going to be a battle against that guy. That’s what we did. We battled.”

Greinke was mowing down the Twins through 4 2-3 innings, getting eight groundball outs and two strikeouts while Kansas City went ahead 1-0 on a single by Pena in the second.

The reigning AL Cy Young winner had two walks and the Twins got another baserunner on an error by first baseman Wilson Betemit, but Greinke didn’t allow a hit until the Twins had two outs in the fifth.