Rosario’s 3rd HR a walk-off winner
MINNEAPOLIS — After suffering through a historic streak of walk-off losses, the Twins reversed the trend Sunday.
Eddie Rosario hit his third home run of the game, launching a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Twins over the Indians 7-5.
On Tuesday, the Twins tied the 1968 Pirates and 2010 Mariners with their eighth walk-off loss in their first 50 games.
“As many as we’ve experienced, we haven’t had a lot of those chances to see the homeplate celebrations,” Twins man-
Cardinals: Michael Wacha lost a no-hit bid in the ninth when Colin Moran led off with a single, but the Cardinals blanked the Pirates 5-0. In 2013, Wacha was one out from a no-hitter when the Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman singled. Wacha (7-1) retired the first 13 batters, striking out eight and walking two. Marcell Ozuna hit a grand slam for the Cards, who have won three of four.
Braves: Charlie Culberson’s pinch two-run homer ended a 4-2 victory over the Nationals. It was Culberson’s second walk-off home run in a week and the Braves’ ninth win in their last at-bat. Nats starter Jeremy Hellickson strained his hamstring and is likely to go on the DL. ager Paul Molitor said. “The right guy did it.”
Rosario became the first Twins player with two three-homer games as his team beat the AL Central leaders for the third straight day.
Indians closer Cody Allen walked Brian Dozier to lead off the ninth. Then he fell behind Rosario 2-1. Rosario knew Allen couldn’t afford to put another runner on.
“After he threw me a second ball, I knew he was going to throw me a fastball,” said Rosario.
“It was up, and he throws 95, but I stayed through the ball. I didn’t know where the ball was
Rays: LHP Blake Snell struck out the first seven batters he faced to tie an AL record, but the Rays allowed a late comeback and lost to the Mariners 2-1. Snell struck out 12 in six two-hit scoreless innings. Denard Span and Dee Gordon had RBI singles and Felix Hernandez gave up one run in eight innings with seven strikeouts as the Mariners swept.
Giants: Dereck Rodriguez earned his first win, giving up a homer to Jake Arrieta but outpitching the Phillies ace in a 6-1 victory for a sweep. The son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez worked six innings, striking out six. Andrew McCutchen hit a three-run homer to help the Giants win their fourth in a row. going, but I wanted to try to finish the game.”
Rosario, who began the day with 10 home runs, hit a solo homer in the first inning and another solo drive in the seventh. Dozier also homered for the Twins, whose struggling offense erupted for 29 runs in the fourgame series.
Twins starter Kyle Gibson was perfect through four innings. But Edwin Encarnacion led off the fifth with the first of his two home runs.
“Coming through like that with a walk-off was a big win in this series,” said Gibson, who struck out seven in 52⁄ innings.
Red Sox: Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer and Brock Holt had three RBIs in a 9-3 win over the Astros. Charlie Morton was pelted for six runs in 51⁄ innings. The Red Sox pounded out 15 hits to split the four-game series.
Dodgers: Max Muncy homered twice and Yasmani Grandal went deep as the Dodgers rallied from five down to beat the Rockies 10-7 for a sweep. Ian Desmond homered and drove in three runs for the Rockies.
Athletics: Matt Olson hit a three-run homer to help beat the Royals 5-1. Royals OF Jon Jay snapped MLB’s longest active homerless drought for a nonpitcher by going deep for the first time in 500 plate appearances.