Rosario blows off steam with three-homer night
Twins set club record with 28 hits
MINNEAPOLIS — Eddie Rosario wasn’t a very happy camper after not starting four games in the past nine days.
He took his frustrations out on the Seattle Mariners pitching staff, and his teammates joined the hit party as well.
Rosario hit three home runs and drove in five runs and the Minnesota Twins set a franchise record with 28 hits while batting around in two different innings of a 20-7 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night.
“He made a little bit of a statement out there tonight,” manager Paul Molitor said. “He’s been out a few days and he came back with a vengeance.”
Max Kepler and Brian Dozier also went deep, Eduardo Escobar had five hits and two RBIS and Jason Castro had four hits and four RBIS for the Twins, who are in first place in the AL Central despite an Al-worst 13-19 record at Target Field.
The 28 hits are the most in a game since the Rangers had 29 in a 30-3 win over the Orioles on Aug. 22, 2007.
“We just couldn’t stop them,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They kept squaring it up.”
Christian Bergman (3-4) gave up nine runs and 10 hits in 2 1-3 innings for the Mariners. Jarrod Dyson had a homer, a double and an RBI. Ben Gamel had two doubles and an RBI.
With slugger Miguel Sano getting a night off, the Twins batted around in a seven-run third inning and a seven-run seventh to snap a five-game home skid.
The Twins strung together eight straight hits in the third inning, including back-to-back homers by Rosario and Dozier, to bust the game wide open.
“I just had a bad day as far as stuff and command goes,” Bergman said.
Rosario’s second two-run shot of the game came off of the first pitch from reliever Casey Lawrence, and Dozier followed with a solo shot for an 11-3 lead.