Nelson Cruz homered and drove in three runs and C.J. Cron added a two-run blast to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 10-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Cruz finished 3-for-4 with a walk and scored two runs, and Ehire Adrianza went 3-for-5 and scored a run as Minnesota improved to 18-4 following a loss this season.
Jorge Polanco went 2-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, and Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Schoop also had two hits for the Twins, who improved to 21-10 at home.
Right-hander Ryne Harper (2-0) picked up the victory in relief of Michael Pineda, who allowed just one run and two hits over 5 2/3 innings while striking out four.
Right-hander Brandon Brennan (2-6), the second Mariners' pitcher, took the loss as Seattle lost for the 11th time in its last 12 games following a win.
Daniel Vogelbach went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, Kyle Seager went 2-for-5 with a double and RBI, and Dylan Moore had a two-run double for the Mariners.
Cruz gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead in the third with his 12th homer of the season and fifth in seven games since returning from the injured list with a wrist injury, lining a pitch from left-hander Yusei Kikuchi into the left field bleachers.
Seattle tied it in the sixth when Seager blooped a two-out single to right, advanced to second on a walk to Domingo Santana and scored on Vogelbach's line single to the gap in right-center.
Minnesota then parlayed four singles, two walks and a hit batter into six runs and a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth, highlighted by two-run singles from Cruz and Max Kepler.
The Twins made it 10-1 in the seventh with an RBI single by Polanco, driving in Byron Buxton, who had walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Cron followed with his 15th home run of the season, a 396-foot line drive off the facing of the second deck in left.
The Mariners cut it to 10-3 in the eighth on Seager's RBI double and a wild pitch by Twins reliever Fernando Romero.
Moore ended the scoring with a two-out, two-run double off the left-field fence in the ninth.
--Field Level Media
Seattle | Minnesota | |
Yusei Kikuchi | Player | Michael Pineda |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 5.2 |
4 | Strikeouts | 4 |
6 | Hits | 2 |
1.80 | ERA | 1.59 |
Seattle | Minnesota | |
Daniel Vogelbach | Player | Nelson Cruz |
2 | Hits | 3 |
1 | RBI | 3 |
0 | HR | 1 |
3 | TB | 6 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |