MINNEAPOLIS -- These final games to the 2019 regular season likely mean more to first baseman Ryan O'Hearn than most other Royals.

O¡¯Hearn is trying to prove he is still among the pieces Kansas City has going forward in the rebuild. Games such as Saturday night¡¯s will help O¡¯Hearn¡¯s cause as he doubled in a run in the second inning and then drilled a tying two-run homer in the sixth inning as the Royals went on to an 12-5 win over the Twins at Target Field, halting a four-game skid.

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O¡¯Hearn, who now has 14 home runs but is hitting only .190, said he certainly has motivation to finish strong.

¡°Absolutely,¡± O¡¯Hearn said. ¡°I understand that this year didn¡¯t go the way I wanted, but it is what it is. I got six games left to prove I belong here and go into Spring Training in good position.¡±

Cheslor Cuthbert who also fits into that category and needing to earn a spot on the 2020 team, delivered the go-ahead RBIs on a two-run pinch-hit homer in the ninth. O¡¯Hearn got the inning going with a single, his third hit of the game. Cuthbert also had a bases-loaded walk in a seven-run ninth, the Royals¡¯ biggest ninth-inning since Sept. 6, 2016 -- also at Target Field in a 10-3 triumph.

¡°You don¡¯t [prove your worth] in one night,¡± manager Ned Yost said. ¡°But it¡¯s a boost. ¡°The home run [by Cuthbert] was huge, but the base hit to start the ninth was huge. We were looking at different scenarios [with O¡¯Hearn], but he was swinging the bat good. So we just let him hit to see if he could draw a walk or get a hit, and he came through.

¡°The offense never quits. It keeps grinding. These kids have made some pretty good headway this season. They just stay after it.¡±

Cuthbert had not played previously in this series, making it even more challenging coming off the bench against a tough left-hander in Taylor Rogers.

"It's really hard, but everything starts during practice, the way you focus and prepare yourself,¡± Cuthbert said. ¡°When you're not starting, you never know what can happen during the game. You can get a pinch-hit, so you always need to be ready just like if you're playing.

"I just wanted to look for a good pitch, and he left me a slider down and in. I didn't try to do too much and it happened, homer."

O¡¯Hearn¡¯s blast in the sixth off Twins starter Jos¨¦ Berr¨ªos capped a three-run inning and wiped out a 5-2 deficit.

¡°I was looking for something offspeed just because of the way he pitched me the first two times,¡± O¡¯Hearn said. ¡°He came at me with changeups and the last one was pretty much middle-middle.¡±

Right-hander Glenn Sparkman started for the Royals and he was sharp early, retiring seven of the first eight hitters he faced. But LaMonte Wade Jr. belted a home run off Sparkman in the third, and then tripled to start a four-run rally in the fifth that chased the right-hander.

After Wade¡¯s triple, Sparkman gave up an RBI double to Luis Arraez, a walk to Jorge Polanco and an RBI single to Nelson Cruz. Left-hander Tim Hill replaced Sparkman, who gave up seven hits and five runs (four earned).