HOUSTON — Jorge Polanco homered twice and drove in four runs, Miguel Sanó also hit a home run and the Minnesota Twins beat the Houston Astros 7-5 on Sunday.
Jorge Polanco supplies the offense as Twins beat Astros 7-5
Polanco belted homers in consecutive innings, the second a three-run shot in the sixth inning as Minnesota took three of four and won a series in Houston for the first time since 2014.
August 9, 2021 at 10:37AM
Polanco hit a solo home run in the fifth and a three-run shot to right in the sixth to help the Twins build a 7-3 lead. Sanó hit a monstrous two-run homer to left in the fourth.
Polanco finished 13-for-40 with five home runs and 10 RBI on Minnesota's nine-game road trip.
"I don't know what to say except he is really feeling it at the plate," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said about Polanco. "The quality at bats is just very, very high across the board. He's always had the contact skills. He's always been able to spray the ball all over the ballfield. When he's getting a mistake, he's really hammering it, hitting the ball hard really to all fields. He's a very confident hitter right now."
Trevor Larnach tied it at 1 in the second with an RBI single. Max Kepler had three hits for Minnesota, which won three of four against the Astros.
"We went out there, did our jobs, played hard, had some big at bats," Baldelli said. "Hit some balls out of the ballpark today. Took some big individual efforts to get a great team win, but really, it was a lot of different guys again."
Kenta Maeda (5-4) allowed three runs on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings. He won for the first time since July 4.
"Today probably wasn't the best outing in terms of pitching in my rhythm and staying within myself, but I was able to get outs with the minimum of runs," Maeda said through a translator. "To pick up a win, and the team win is huge."
Alex Colomé pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Lance McCullers Jr. (9-3) allowed four runs on a season-high eight hits with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. He lost for the first time since July 8.
"I thought my stuff was fine," McCullers said. "Some counts here and there, try to make better pitches. … It's one of those things, I got to roll with the punches. Other than the Sanó at bat, it didn't feel like any other balls were coming off the bat with much intent, just a lot of well-placed balls."
Houston has lost four of its last five games.
"They hit the ball well against us," Houston manager Dusty Baker said. "We made some mistakes – walked some guys ahead of homers, hit into double plays. … It's very disappointing."
Houston's Taylor Jones had an RBI single in the fourth, and Yordan Álvarez hit an RBI single in the fifth. Aledmys Díaz hit an RBI double in the seventh, and Carlos Correa hit a solo home run in the eighth to cut the lead to two.
Chas McCormick gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring on a throwing error by Polanco after Díaz had singled to shallow right field.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Twins: INF Josh Donaldson (right hamstring) was out of a lineup for a second straight game on Sunday. Baldelli said Donaldson was a little sore and getting treatment as the Twins work through a timeline for when he could return to the lineup. Baldelli was hopeful Donaldson would not need to go on the injured list.
Astros: DH Michael Brantley left the game for precautionary reasons in the third after being struck in the head and shaken up in the first inning on a collision with Andrelton Simmons at second base. Jake Meyers replaced Brantley. … RHP Rafael Montero exited in the eighth with shoulder soreness, Baker said. … 3B Alex Bregman (left quadriceps strain) returned to Houston on Sunday to give an update on his rehabilitation, Baker said. "We will talk to him and see what kind of progress he's making physically and mentally about when we might activate him," Baker said.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Beau Burrows (0-0, 11.00 ERA) will be the starter for the opener of the three-game series at home against the White Sox on Monday. Burrows will make his first career start.
Astros: After an off day on Monday, RHP Jake Odorizzi (4-6, 4.95 ERA) will start a two-game series against the Rockies on Tuesday. Odorizzi struggled in his last start Wednesday against the Dodgers, getting tagged for six runs in three innings.
HOUSTON — The Twins held off Houston 7-5 on Sunday and won three of the four-game series.
Jorge Polanco led the way with two home runs and four RBI. Miguel Sano added a two-run homer. Luis Arraez and Trevor Larnach each had two hits.
The score was tied 1-1 in the third when Miguel Sano hit a fat slider from Lance McCullers Jr. into the seats in left for a two-run homer. Houston got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Polanco went to work.
He hit a solo homer in the fifth, an opposite field shot that gave the Twins a 4-2 lead. The Astros got an RBI single by Yordan Alvarez in the bottom of the inning.
Polanco batted against Phil Maton with two on in the sixth and hammered a pitch over the wall in right-center for a three-run homer and 7-3 lead. It was Polanco's 20th homer of the season and third multi-homer game of his career.
Houston got a RBI double by Aledmys Diaz in the seventh and solo homer by Carlos Correa in the eighth.
Alexander Colome pitched the ninth to earn his fifth save.
The Twins, who finished the nine-game road trip 5-4, head home to begin a three-game series against the White Sox on Monday.
about the writer
The speculation surrounding shortstop Carlos Correa’s availability in a trade was overblown this week, Twins officials indicated at the winter meetings in Dallas.
