Rookie Brooks Lee drove in five runs, and Carlos Santana went 3 for 4 with a two-run homer as the Minnesota Twins came back to beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-2 on Sunday. This win was only their fourth in the last 12 games.
Ryan Jeffers contributed with two hits and two runs for the Twins, who scored eight runs in the sixth and seventh innings to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
“Hitting’s contagious. It always helps when there are guys on base,” said Lee, whose two-run single in the sixth inning put the Twins ahead. “It’s fun with guys on base. I feel like you get more pitches to hit, there’s more chance for damage.”
Minnesota (79-70) kept a 2 1/2-game lead over Detroit and Seattle (both 77-73) for the final AL wild card spot. The Twins will start a seven-game road trip at Cleveland on Monday, ending in Boston.
“Honestly, I don’t think we’re really playing tight,” Jeffers said. “It’s just how this game goes. You’re hot, you’re cold. You hope that while some guys are cold, some other guys are hot. It just so happened that for a week or so, the two-week stretch or whatever it is, there hasn’t been many guys that are hot to carry the load.
But hopefully, with that being said, we can all get hot together.”
Cole Sands (8-1) gave up one hit in two scoreless innings, and Jorge Alcala also had two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
“Our pitching did a good job of stabilizing the middle of the game, and then the bats were able to break through,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We had multiple big hits and big at-bats and guys getting on base. A lot of what we were aiming for, we got.”
With the Twins down 2-1 in the sixth inning, Santana hit a one-out double off Rhett Lowder (1-2), who was making his fourth major league start. Trevor Larnach walked, Tony Santillan struck out Willi Castro, Jeffers hit an RBI double, and Lee followed with a single to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.
In the seventh inning, Santana hit a two-run homer off Justin Wilson, driving the ball to the facing of the second deck in left field. Lee added a bases-loaded triple down the right field line.
