The Twins survived a ninth-inning rally to defeat the Astros 7-5 Sunday afternoon at Target Field, led by a strong performance from starter Ervin Santana.
Santana pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out 10 for his first quality outing in weeks, MLB.com reports. It was his first win since July 23, and his first win at home.
.@ErvinSantana_54 gets his 1st win as a Twin at Target Field. He threw 109 pitches. #SMELLBASEBALL #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/MqecjCT4A9
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 30, 2015
Minnesota got home runs from Eduardo Nunez and Miguel Sano to help with the win and take the weekend series from the Astros two games to one.
The Twins got on the board in the first inning after Astros starter Lance McCullers walked three batters and Eddie Rosario brought in a run on a sacrifice fly, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
A two-run homer by Nunez in the sixth brought the score to 3-0.
Minnesota broke it open in the seventh inning, scoring four more runs on hits by Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar and Joe Mauer. Sano capped off the inning with a two-run shot to left field, which was his 13th homer since being called up on July 2, according to MLB.com.
The Astros (72-59) made a game of it though, scoring five runs on two homers in the ninth inning.
The Twins have won eight of their last 10 games and improved to 67-63 on the season. They begin a series against the White Sox on Tuesday at home.
Minnesota will face the Astros again next week in Houston.
