In a pitching duel between Joe Ryan and Logan Gilbert it was the Twins who were the first to break through. In the 5th, Byron Buxton hit a misplaced Gilbert fastball out of the park to left for his 7th home run of the year. It was a good result, but felt somewhat lacking as, in the 4th, they had stranded the bases loaded with Tristan Gray and Royce Lewis unable to get a hit.

That lack of run support hurt, as in the 6th Joe Ryan allowed a 2-out double to Julio Rodriguez, then Josh Naylor singled to left, tying the game. In the 7th, a lead off double by Randy Arozarena spelled the end of Ryan’s night, with Kody Funderburk entering. Kody got the next two Mariners out, but Cole Young slapped a single to left to give them a 2-1 lead.

The Twins batters were unable to get anything done against Eduard Bazardo in the 6th, and Gabe Speier in the 7th. The Twins bullpen was not so lucky in the 8th. Funderburk walked J.P. Crawford, then Cole Sands entered and gave up a double to Rodriguez, followed by a 3-run homer by Josh Naylor to break the game open, 5-1.

In the 9th, Rodriguez would double in 2 more Mariners to push this once close game to 7-1. That’s your final score.

I also wanted to mention that Randy Arozarena went 2-3 with a double tonight, continuing his dominance against Twins pitchers, as he had an OPS of 1.025 against them entering the game today.