MINNEAPOLIS — Joey Meneses hit his first homer of the season, Keibert Ruiz singled within the go-ahead run within the eighth inning, and the Washington Nationals rallied previous the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on a cold Friday evening.
Joey Gallo’s solo homer was certainly one of simply 5 hits for the Twins, who’ve scored two or fewer runs in seven of their 20 video games.
Minnesota led 2-0 earlier than Meneses went deep within the seventh, a 409-foot drive to the bullpen in left-center that chased Twins starter Tyler Mahle. In the eighth, Griffin Jax (1-2) bought the primary two outs, however No. 9 hitter CJ Abrams sliced a floor ball previous a diving third baseman Jose Miranda, who was enjoying effectively off the road.
After Abrams pulled up at second with a double, Lane Thomas delivered him with a single to left. Thomas took second on a wild throw dwelling, and he scored simply on Ruiz’s hit.
That was sufficient for the Nationals bullpen. Erasmo Ramírez (1-1), Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan every pitched a scoreless inning. Finnegan picked up his fourth save when he bought Jose Miranda to floor right into a game-ending double play.
With a game-time temperature of 37 levels – the coldest in Nationals historical past – each beginning pitchers took management early. Mahle gave up three hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings, whereas Washington’s Trevor Williams allowed two runs over six innings.
Gallo led off the underside of the third along with his fifth dwelling run of the season, a 386-foot blast to proper that left the bat at 112.6 miles per hour.
Ryan Jeffers adopted with a towering drive that fell between heart fielder Victor Robles and proper fielder Lane Thomas for a double. Jeffers moved to 3rd on a sacrifice bunt by Michael A. Taylor and scored on Max Kepler’s sacrifice fly.
Mahle, who was acquired from Cincinnati on the commerce deadline final 12 months however made simply 4 extra begins earlier than being shut down with a shoulder damage, pitched into the seventh inning for the primary time as a Twin.
Meneses hit 13 homers in 222 at-bats as a 30-year-old rookie final 12 months and starred for Mexico within the World Baseball Classic, batting .370 with two homers. But he had been off to a sluggish begin for the Nats, coming into the sport with a .562 OPS.
POLANCO’S DEBUT
Twins second baseman Jorge Polanco was activated from the injured record and began, his first motion this 12 months. Polanco had been sidelined with irritation in his left knee, a lingering impact of an damage that saved him out for the ultimate month of final season.
Polanco singled in his first at-bat.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: Manager Dave Martinez mentioned INF Ildemaro Vargas (left shoulder pressure) might be prepared for a minor-league rehab project if he will get by means of exercises this weekend with none setbacks.
Twins: RHP Kenta Maeda, who left Thursday’s recreation at Boston within the second inning after taking a line drive off his left ankle, expects to make his subsequent begin, supervisor Rocco Baldelli mentioned.
UP NEXT
Nationals: RHP Chad Kuhl (0-1, 8.59 ERA) will take the mound for the second recreation of the sequence on Saturday. He hasn’t pitched greater than 5 innings in any of his three begins this season.
Twins: After signing a four-year extension with the Twins on Friday, Pablo López (1-1, 1.73) will look to proceed his sizzling begin.
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