Dallas Keuchel took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Edouard Julien drove in a pair of runs as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 at Target Field on Sunday afternoon.
Keuchel was dominant coming off a rough start in Philadelphia, keeping the Pirates off the basepaths over the first 6.1 innings. Kuchel’s bid and afternoon came to an end in the seventh inning when he allowed a one-out double to Brian Reynolds, finishing with one hit, three strikeouts and six swings and misses on 85 pitches.
Dallas Keuchel turned đź”™ the clock @Twins // #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/3j5GA3xMJw
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) August 20, 2023
Julien did his best to support Keuchel at the plate, driving in a run on a sacrifice fly following a Donovan Solano double to put the Twins on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning. Julien delivered again in the bottom of the sixth inning, smacking an RBI double to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead.
Not your normal rookie!! đź’Ş#MNTwins x #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/tQBW1whAHA
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) August 20, 2023
The Twins bullpen took care of the rest as Griffin Jax collected the final two outs of the seventh inning, Caleb Thielbar pitched around Connor Joe’s leadoff double in the eighth and Jhoan Duran closed it out in the ninth for his 23rd save of the season.
Solano went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored while Michael A. Taylor went 1-for-2 with a walk and Carlos Correa went 1-for-4.
With the Cleveland Guardians’ loss to the Detroit Tigers, the Twins (65-60) now own a six-game lead for first place in the American League Central.
The Twins will look to expand their advantage when Bailey Ober takes the mound against Wade Miley to open a two-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on Tuesday night.
