Cruz, Twins rout Mariners
Nelson Cruz homered and had three RBIS and utility infielder Ehire Adrianza’s hustle keyed a six-run sixth and the Minnesota Twins topped the Seattle Mariners 10-5 on Thursday in Minneapolis.
Cruz, who played for the Mariners from 2015-18 before joining Minnesota as a free agent, homered in the third and added a two-run single in the sixth when Adrianza helped key the rally.
Max Kepler led off with a walk. Adrianza then singled Kepler to third. Mariners right-hander Brandon Brennan, on in relief, threw wildly past first trying to pick off Adrianza.
Kepler scored and Adrianza took second on the throwing error. Adrianza advanced on Brennan’s wild pitch and scored on a ground ball by Jason Castro with the infield in, sliding headfirst to beat second baseman Dee Gordon’s throw. Cruz and Kepler each drove in two runs with singles later in the inning.
Four of the six runs in the inning were charged to Brennan (2-6), who faced seven batters in the three-game series without retiring any of them. Seattle lost for the 24th time in 33 games and is 16-41 since its 13-2 start.
Cruz gave the Twins a 1-0 lead with his fifth home run in seven games, a line drive into the lower seats in left. That was the only run allowed in five innings by Mariners starter Yusei Kikuchi, a Japanese left-hander who lost his previous three starts.
Twins starter Michael Pineda, facing the team that signed him out of the Dominican Republic in 2005, limited Seattle to two hits in 5
innings and left the game with two on and a 1-0 lead.
Seattle’s Daniel Vogelbach, coming off a career-high four-hit game on Wednesday, singled against Twins reliever Ryan Harper to tie it, the run charged to Pineda.
Harper (2-0), a 30-year-old rookie who pitched into the seventh, was the beneficiary of the Twins’ rally. BRAVES 6, PIRATES 5:
Josh Donaldson drove in the tie-breaking run in Atlanta’s fiverun fifth inning to win his rematch with Joe Musgrove, and the Braves beat Pittsburgh to complete a four-game sweep. The Braves have won seven straight to pass Philadelphia for the NL East lead.
ANGELS 5, RAYS 3:
Shohei Ohtani became the first Japaneseborn player to hit for the cycle, helping Los Angeles Angels Tampa Bay. Ohtani hit a threerun homer in the first inning and completed the feat with a single in the seventh.