Max Kepler delivered a bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the seventh inning and Kenta Maeda rebounded from a slow start to help the Minnesota Twins defeat the New York Mets 8-4 at Target Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Mets struck early in Saturday’s matinee as Brandon Nimmo hit a solo home run and Daniel Vogelbach drove in another run with a single in the top of the first inning first inning. But Maeda settled down from there allowing two runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts over 5.1 innings.
Maeda’s damage control allowed the Twins to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning as an infield single by Ryan Jeffers and Willi Castro double led to Donovan Solano’s two-run single.
The Twins added a run on Kyle Farmer’s RBI single in the bottom of the third inning and held on to their lead until the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kepler delivered, smacking a triple off the top of the right-center field wall to break the game open.
𝗠𝗔𝗗 𝗠𝗔𝗫!!! 😤😤#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/VjeMN0ODG4
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) September 9, 2023
Farmer drove in his second run of the game with a double in the following at-bat to give the Twins a 7-2 lead. After Pete Alonso and DJ Stewart hit solo home runs off Louie Varland in the top of the eighth inning, the Twins got a run back on a solo home run from Castro in the bottom of the eighth.
Dylan Floro came on to close the game and reduce the Twins’ magic number to clinch the American League Central to 14.
The Twins will go for the series sweep over the Mets on Sunday afternoon when Pablo López (10-7, 3.64 ERA) takes on Tylor Megill (8-7, 5.28 ERA).
