After losing a pair of games in St. Louis, the Minnesota Twins returned to Target Field to beat the Cardinals 3-1 Wednesday night.
Twins starter Tommy Milone was outstanding. He held the Cardinals to one run on five hits, while striking out five to pick up the victory.
Tommy Milone allowed just one run over 7 innings and lowered his ERA from 4.15 to 3.67. #MNTwins
— Tyler Mason (@tylermason21) June 18, 2015
The Cardinals took early lead again Wednesday. Jason Heyward put St. Louis on top 1-0 when he singled home Mark Reynolds, who started the second inning with a double.
But that was all St. Louis would get off Milone. He struck out the final two hitters of the second inning to limit the damage. After that he kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard and nearly silent at the plate.
The Twins took the lead in the fourth, when an errant pickoff attempt got past Reynolds at first base. That allowed Trevor Plouffe, who led off the inning with a double, to score. It also allowed Eddie Rosario to move up to third.
Rosario then came scored on a sacrifice fly from Eduardo Nunez to give the Twins the lead.
The Twins’ other run came in the eighth after Rosario hit a two-out triple. Nunez beat out an infield grounder to score Rosario giving the Twins the insurance run.
Nunez finished the night 2-for-2 with two RBIs, while Rosario was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Glen Perkins recorded the final four outs for his 23rd save in as many chances.
The victory was a nice way for the Twins to celebrate Byron Buxton’s Target Field debut. While Buxton wasn’t much of a factor offensively, Twins fans welcomed their top prospect to the field.
Byron Buxton gets introduced for his first-ever at-bat at Target Field pic.twitter.com/8uDom9yiuc
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) June 18, 2015
The Twins and Cardinals wrap up their four-game home-and-home series Thursday afternoon. Mike Pelfrey (5-3) is on the mound for Minnesota against Jaime Garcia.
