The Minnesota Twins used an eighth-inning rally and some help from the Los Angeles’ Angels defense to pick up a 5-4 victory on Friday night.
The game got off to a rough start for the Twins when Jose Iglesias delivered an RBI single off J.A. Happ in the first inning. With Iglesias on first, Kurt Suzuki roped a home run to left field to give the Angels a 3-0 lead.
Happ continued to struggle when Jack Mayfield, who entered the game hitting. 179, hit a solo home run in the second inning to put L.A. ahead 4-0.
But the Twins’ rally began in the third when Trevor Larnach delivered an RBI single. After Josh Donaldson drove in a run on a double play in the fifth, Nick Gordon singled in the sixth to make it a 4-3 game.
With the Angels clinging to the lead in the eighth, Miguel Sanó and Gordon were on base when Ryan Jeffers came to the plate. Jeffers singled to left field to advance the runners but Sanó was sent home to try to tie the game.
LOL Angels, Twins get 2 pic.twitter.com/t6qL93mngj
— Superdrunkmark69 (@cjzer0) July 24, 2021
Although the Angels appeared to have him in no man’s land, the throw from Juan Lagares was offline, allowing Sanó to score the tying run.
Meanwhile, Gordon advanced to third base, prompting a throw from Suzuki. The throw went into left field and Gordon sprinted home to try and score the run. Lagares’ second throw was on-target but Gordon avoided the tag and scored the go-ahead run.
Get home safely. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/NQEx6Bo3MR
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 24, 2021
With their first lead of the series, Taylor Rogers came into the ninth and finished off the Angels for his ninth save of the year.
The Twins (42-56) will send José Berríos to the mound on Saturday night against Patrick Sandoval for a 6:10 p.m. start.
