by By John Shipley jshipley@pioneerpress.com , St. Paul Pioneer Press

Young hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs Friday to propel Minnesota to a 10-7 victory over Kansas City that shaved a game off Detroit's lead in the American League Central. The Twins trail the Tigers by one game with two games remaining.

"He's been swinging pretty good. He's been playing really good, and it's needed," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It's needed by a lot of people who have picked up the pace."

For most of the season, Young was essentially in a platoon system with Denard Span, who would move between center and left as Gardenhire juggled four outfielders and two designated hitters. But when first baseman Justin Morneau went down with a back injury, right fielder Michael Cuddyer moved to first, and left field became permanently open.

Young has taken hold. Since Sept. 14, the day the Twins declared Morneau out of the season, Young is batting .344 (22 for 64), and he has hit safely in nine of his past 10 games with two homers, seven runs scored and 10 runs batted in.

Knowing he'll play when he gets to the park is important, Young said.

"(Before), you could take an 0-fer and not play for a couple days," he said. "So now if you're feeling good, you might not be getting any hits at the plate, but you're feeling good at the plate you can still go out there.

"I haven't been feeling good at the plate, but I just happened to run into a couple balls that are right in the hole."

He got a juicy one from Royals starter Lenny DiNardo in the first inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Young said, "I just didn't want to hit the ball to any of their infielders."

Well, that's one way to do it. He drilled a high fastball a few rows up into the seats in left-center for a five-run lead, bringing a large crowd announced at 40,223 to its feet, demanding a curtain call -- which he finally gave them.

"I don't remember who, but someone told me to go out," he said. "I wasn't going to; I was just going to kick it in the dugout."

Young's father, Larry, was at the game. Asked if that was a nice coincidence, Young said, "Yeah, I wish my mom could have seen it, too." His mother, Bonnie, died in May after battling liver and pancreatic cancer.

In a three-run fourth, Young drove in a run with a single, tying his career-high for RBIs.

"I'm trying to help the team make the playoffs, just put together a good second half so I have an opportunity to come into spring training next year and play every day," he said, "instead of flip a coin to see when you're going to play."

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