Nick Gordon had two hits and scored the winning run in the eighth inning on a throwing error as the Minnesota Twins rallied from a four-run deficit to edge the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Jorge Polanco went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored, Ryan Jeffers had two doubles among three hits and Josh Donaldson also had two hits for Minnesota. Juan Minaya (1-0) picked up the win with an inning of scoreless relief and Taylor Rogers garnered his ninth save.
Kurt Suzuki and Jack Mayfield each homered and Phil Gosselin went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored for Los Angeles. Raisel Iglesias (6-4) suffered the loss.
Slumping Shohei Ohtani didn't play for the Angels.
Minnesota was trailing 4-3 entering the bottom of the eighth when Raisel Iglesias was summoned to try and earn a six-out save after Miguel Sano led off with a walk. But Sano advanced to second one out later on Gordon's single to left and scored on Jeffers' single to left. Gordon took third on the throw to the plate and then scored what proved to be the winning run when Suzuki threw wildly into left field.
Los Angeles jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Gosselin doubled to right with one out and Jose Iglesias followed with an RBI single. One out later, Suzuki followed with his third home run of the season, a 405-foot drive down the left-field line.
Mayfield, who had three homers in 69 previous big league games entering the series, then made it 4-0 in the second inning with his second home run in two nights and third of the season, a 384-foot drive into the bleachers in left.
The Twins cut it to 4-1 in the third on Trevor Larnach's RBI single, driving in Polanco who had doubled, and made it 4-2 in the fifth when Max Kepler singled, went to second on an errant pickoff throw, advanced to third on a single by Polanco and scored on Donaldson's double-play grounder.
Minnesota closed to 4-3 in the sixth when Sano greeted reliever Steve Cishek with a double and scored one out later on Gordon's single to right.
J.A. Happ worked six innings in a no-decision for the Twins, allowing four runs and seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk. Angels starter Alex Cobb also failed to factor in the decision, giving up two runs (one earned) and seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
--Field Level Media
LA Angels | Minnesota | |
Alex Cobb | Player | J.A. Happ |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 6.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 4 |
7 | Hits | 7 |
1.80 | ERA | 6.00 |
LA Angels | Minnesota | |
Phil Gosselin | Player | Ryan Jeffers |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
3 | TB | 5 |
.667 | Avg | .750 |