Twins 5, Mariners 4: Brian Dozier recorded his 10th homer of the season while Kyle Gibson tossed seven strong innings as host Minnesota held off a late charge from Seattle to win the opener of a three-game set.
Josmil Pinto joined Dozier and Aaron Hicks with two hits and also went deep for the Twins, who secured their fourth victory in five contests. Gibson, who went 0-3 with an 8.68 ERA over his previous four starts, yielded one run and six hits over seven frames while closer Glen Perkins worked around a leadoff single in the ninth for his 11th save
Chris Young registered his worst outing of the season, giving up season highs in runs (five) and hits (10) in his first outing against Minnesota since 2005. Michael Saunders went 3-for-4 while Robinson Cano had two hits to extend his on-base streak to 24 games.
Dozier and Trevor Plouffe each delivered RBI doubles in the third inning and Pinto went deep for the first time since April 26 in the fourth when he crushed a hanging 1-2 slider from Young into the seats in left. Cano put Seattle on the board and broke Seattle’s 21-inning scoreless drought in the fifth with a run-scoring double before Dozier belted a high fastball off the facing of the second deck in left.
Eduardo Escobar staked Minnesota to a 5-1 lead in the sixth with an RBI single before the Twins opted to pull Gibson after 96 pitches. After retiring Corey Hart to open the eighth, Caleb Thielbar gave up three consecutive hits - capped off by Dustin Ackley’s two-run triple - and Mike Zunino’s sacrifice fly as the Mariners stormed back, but the reliever struck out James Jones to end the threat.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Twins notched their 4,224th win since the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961 on Friday, surpassing the total they posted as the Washington Senators (1901-60). … Seattle has dropped three straight for the first time since an eight-game slide from April 15-22. … Minnesota’s bullpen has been charged with 12 runs (nine earned) in 14 innings over its last four games.
Seattle | Minnesota | |
Chris Young | Player | Kyle Gibson |
Loss | W/L | Win |
7.0 | IP | 7.0 |
0 | Strikeouts | 4 |
10 | Hits | 6 |
6.43 | ERA | 1.29 |
Seattle | Minnesota | |
Michael Saunders | Player | Josmil Pinto |
3 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 1 |
3 | TB | 5 |
.750 | Avg | .667 |