MINNEAPOLIS - Joe Nathan entered in a save situation Saturday night and received a rousing ovation from the hometown crowd. Quite a departure from a day ago, when Matt Capps was booed off the Target Field mound after another blown save. Nathan couldnt contain a smile after returning to the role he wanted. The Minnesota fans certainly embraced the Twins new, old closer as he preserved a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. "Especially running in, it got a little louder than normal," Nathan said of moving into the closers spot after pitching in a setup role recently. "Usually its like advertisements going on in the eighth inning. So, yeah, youve got to calm down a little bit more." Michael Cuddyer singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning before Nathan did his job as the closer. Cuddyer, Minnesotas lone all-star representative, singled off Aaron Crow to drive in Alexi Casilla. Nathan finished for his fourth save in seven chances. Earlier in the day, the Twins put the former all-star back into his familiar role, replacing the struggling Capps. Nathan earned his first save since the Twins home opener. "For me, I try to treat it all the same," Nathan said. "Obviously the stuff going on outside the field is the stuff thats different, with the music playing, the crowd gets a little louder in the ninth, everything seems a little bigger in that inning. For myself and my own mental preparation, everything is the same." Drew Butera added a solo home run for Minnesota. Glen Perkins (1-1) pitched a perfect eighth for the victory. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire left the stadium during the game with an illness -- hes been dealing with a viral infection. Bench coach Scott Ullger finished the game as the acting manager. Jeff Francis (3-11) of North Delta, B.C., lost his fifth straight decision, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk. Francis got one out in the eighth before back-to-back singles by Casilla and Joe Mauer chased him. Crow entered, and Cuddyer met him with a single that broke a 3-3 tie. "I take a lot of responsibility for what I do on the mound, and I think I expect more out of myself than anybody else does," Francis said. "I feel like I can get out of that inning, but Ill give the ball to Aaron any day. I know the way that guy can throw. Im not disappointed with him at all, only with my performance." Still stuck six games under .500, the Twins are opening the second half with 12 straight home games, all against AL Central opponents. Minnesota used a 24-11 surge going into the all-star break to cut their 10-game deficit. The Twins now trail Cleveland by six games. "When you put yourself in a hole, that mountain when youre standing at the bottom of it, it looks like it never ends," Cuddyer said. "But when youre climbing and taking every step, that next step looks closer. Thats kind of the way we relayed it. Every night you go out and try to figure out a way to win, and by the time its all said and done, hopefully youve climbed to the top." Playing a Central team is usually a good tonic for Minnesota, which has won 13 of its last 16 games against division foes. The Twins have also won 16 of their last 21 home games. Nathan could play a big part in Minnesotas resurgence. He certainly caught the eye of Royals manager Ned Yost. "His fastball is down from what it used to be, but it still looks crisp. His breaking ball looks a lot sharper, to me, than it did," Yost said. "But I aint seen him in a long time." Alcides Escobar homered for Kansas City, which has lost six of seven to the Twins. Carl Pavano pitched seven innings for Minnesota, allowing three runs and six hits. He cruised through the first four innings, allowing just two hits. The Royals broke through with Escobars two-out homer in the fifth and added a run in the sixth as Melky Cabrera singled, stole second and scored on a groundout by Eric Hosmer. Mauer had an RBI grounder, Cuddyer singled and Delmon Young doubled for a 2-0 lead in the first. Buteras second homer made it 3-0 in the fourth. Francis retired 11 batters in a row before Casillas single in the eighth. NOTES: The Twins retired former pitcher Bert Blylevens No. 28 in a pre-game ceremony. Blyleven pitched 11 seasons for Minnesota and holds the franchise records for complete games (141), shutouts (29) and strikeouts (2,035). Blyleven will be inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame next week and is the sixth Twins player to have his number retired. ... Minnesota OFs Denard Span (concussion) and Jason Kubel (foot) travelled to triple-A Rochester to begin their rehab assignments. Span is set to play five innings in the outfield on Sunday, while Kubel will play nine innings as the designated hitter. 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The top-ranked Federer, who won three Grand Slam titles last year but has struggled since the U.S. Open, lost to Andy Murray 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 on Monday in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. "My expectations are not sky-high at this point," said Federer, who was playing for the first time since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals Jan. 25. "Obviously, I havent played much so you dont go in with any expectations, actually. You hope to get past the first round, no matter if its a guy with no ranking or a guy ranked basically in the top 10." After winning his 12th Grand Slam title at last years U.S. Open, Federer lost to David Nalbandian in the Madrid Masters final. The Swiss star then won the Swiss Indoors, but lost to Nalbandian in the third round of the Paris Masters and followed that with a round-robin loss to Fernando Gonzalez in his opening match at the ATP Masters Cup, which Federer eventually won. On Monday, Federer said he felt rusty. "Missing forehands by two or three metres - its just not possible," Federer said. "I gave him the mistakes today." Playing Murray, who is ranked 11th in the world and beat Federer at the Cincinnati Masters two years ago, in the first round didnt make things any easier on Federer. "It was always going to be a tough draw. I knew that from the start," Federer said. "Hes played many matches already this season whhereas obviously I come in a little bit cold.dddddddddddd "Of course, I wish I would have maybe had a little bit easier draw, but under the circumstances I felt I played OK. It wasnt a bad match, which is the only positive thing out of tonight." Murray has already won two ATP titles this season, and he now leads Federer 2-1 in his career. "Anytime you get to play someone like Roger, it is an honour to be on the same court as him," Murray said. "Each time I play him I step my game up and play pretty well, and I played really well today and served great." Federer, who won the Dubai tournament four times in the last five years, had not lost in the first round of a tournament since his defeat to Dominik Hrbaty in the 2004 Cincinnati Masters. Last year, Federer lost his opening match at the Pacific Life Open to Guillermo Canas after getting a bye into the second round. "Hes the best player in the world, theres no question," Murray said. "The most important thing is to believe that you can win the match." Murray held serve throughout and broke Federer in the sixth game of the second set. He broke Federers serve again to take a 3-2 lead in the third. The British player served out the match at love. Fabrice Santoro of France also advanced, beating last years finalist, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 6-3, 6-4. Fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain advanced by beating Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 6-0, and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-4. ' ' '