Fortunate Bounce Helps Twins Claim Third Straight Series Victory

Behind some clutch two-out hitting and one fortuitous bounce of the baseball, the Twins rallied from a late deficit and beat the Diamondbacks 4-2 in Sunday afternoon’s rubber match. It’s the third straight series victory for the surging Twins, who have won six of their last seven games.

Entering the top of the seventh inning at Chase Field, the Twins trailed 2-0. Their red-hot lineup, coming off a season-high 16 runs on 20 hits on Saturday night, had been stifled by Arizona’s Jose Cabrera in his MLB debut. They picked a good time to wake up against Juan Morillo, who has been one of the Diamondbacks’ best relievers this year.

Royce Lewis began the seventh with a single. Two outs later, Ryan Kreidler kept the inning alive with a base hit. Josh Bell, who had gotten a rare day off, came in as a pinch hitter and drove in Lewis. And backup catcher Alex Jackson, the Twins’ No. 9 hitter, singled through the right side to tie it.

But Minnesota didn’t just tie the score on Jackson’s knock. Bell aggressively went for third base, Corbin Carroll tried to gun him down, and the Twins got lucky when a well-thrown ball hit Bell’s hand as he went into his feet-first slide. The ball caromed out of play to send Bell home automatically.

From there, the Twins’ bullpen took care of business. Cody Laweryson, Andrew Morris, Yoendrys Gomez, and Anthony Banda threw four hitless innings in relief of young starter Mike Paredes. Laweryson, who pitched the bottom of the sixth, got credit for his first MLB win. Gomez got the heart of the DBacks’ order in the eighth, and Banda delivered his second save of the season. Trevor Larnach provided an insurance run with a two-out RBI double in the top of the ninth.

In addition to the clutch hitting and an outstanding bullpen performance, the Twins were very sharp defensively on Sunday. Kreidler, who had a game-high three hits, may have saved a run with a brilliant diving play in the first inning. After Arizona got a two-run double from Ketel Marte in the second, Larnach definitely prevented a third run with a diving catch in left field. And Luke Keaschall saved a run with a diving stop at second base to end the sixth.

In the bottom of the seventh, after the Twins had taken the lead, Kody Clemens robbed Marte with a great leaping catch out in center field (which is not his natural position). Jackson then helped Morris out by throwing out Geraldo Perdomo on a stolen base attempt.

Paredes was good enough for the Twins in his third career start, allowing only two runs on six hits and three walks over five innings.

This win completes a 5-1 road trip for the Twins (38-41), who are the closest to .500 they’ve been since late May. A big challenge awaits, as they’ll welcome Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers to Target Field for three games beginning on Monday night.

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