For the second straight day, the Minnesota Twins entered the bottom of the 9th inning trailing, and for the second straight day, they walked it off in the extra innings.
On the day after Ryan Jeffers drove an RBI base hit to right field to down the Chicago White Sox 5-4 in the 12th inning, Carlos Correa flung a ball to right field for the walk-off RBI base hit to defeat the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in the 10th inning.
With Donoval Solano at third base after a sacrifice bunt by Christian Vázquez, and Ryan Jeffers reaching with none of the Mariners covering first base on another bunt, Correa fired his liner, where Teoscar Hernández tried to slide and catch for the third out to send it to the 11th inning, but could not.
With Correa's second walk-off of the season, this was the first time since September 13th and 14th of 2017 in which the Twins walked off in extra innings in consecutive games.
"We've faced some good pitchers," said Correa. "Yesterday, [Kendall] Graveman and today, [Andres] Muñoz. To be able to come back against them says a lot about this lineup and the big strides that we're making in the second half. I think we've been playing really good baseball ever since the break."
That point is further emphasized by Minnesota's 9-2 record since the All-Star break, the best in the MLB. Their 54-48 record is their best of the season, and with the Cleveland Guardians losing to the Kansas City Royals, Minnesota went form half a game behind Cleveland in the AL Central to four games ahead of them.
They fought hard for those wins, including the day before, where they erased deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 in the 9th and 10th innings, respectively, against the White Sox. They later led 2-1 in this game with two outs in the top of the 9th inning before Griffin Jax gave up a two-run homer to Kolten Wong, who had just one home run before this game, that was set up by a base hit by Cal Raleigh.
They faced Muñoz, who has a cannon of an arm, in the 9th inning, where reigning AL Player of the Week Alex Kirilloff sent a fly ball off the glove of left fielder Taylor Trammell before Max Kepler drove a game-tying double for his third hit of the night. It was jubilation for the German, who had his first three-hit night since April 24th.
In the 10th inning, the Twins got successful bunts from Vázquez and Jeffers, the first one being a sacrifice bunt and the second one on a squeeze that became a base hit, before Correa elevated his ball to right field to end the game.
Aiding to the scoring for Minnesota was Trevor Larnach, who hit an RBI triple after he was recalled from the St. Paul Saints, the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, earlier in the day after Byron Buxton went on the paternity list. He tied it with Kepler making it home, followed up by Vázquez with an RBI single, scoring Larnach, to get Minnesota their first lead of the game.
Kenta Maeda had himself a night pitching. He was initially struggling in the season and re-injured himself in his return from Tommy John surgery, but allowed one run, pitching into the 7th inning, outdueling the Mariners' ace pitcher, Luis Castillo, for the second time between the two series. Maeda has lowered his ERA to 2.48 in his six starts since his return from the IL.
Castillo had a nice night of his own. He didn't allow a base runner in this game until he walked rookie Edouard Julien with one out in the 4th. Then he caught Julien with a pick-off at first base.
On the other side of the bullpen, kudos should be given to Jordan Balazovic and Jorge López. Balazovic, a rookie, started the year with a broken jaw during an altercation, though he pitched a highly effective 8th inning. López struggled throughout the season with his consistency and spent two weeks on the IL to focus on his mental health, though he had a flawless 10th inning for his 4th career win.
It was the first baseball broadcast that John Ott (@JohnRyanOtt on Twitter) and I have done together, and I'm hoping to do more of these together later down the season and into the playoffs!
Injuries
Twins: Second baseman Jorge Polanco (left hamstring strain) is working at third base during his rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul for a position move with the emergence of Julien.
Mariners: None.
Scoring
SEA, Top 5th: Tom Murphy homered to center (421 feet). 1-0 SEA
MIN, Bottom 5th: Trevor Larnach tripled to right, Max Kepler scored. 1-1 TIE
MIN, Bottom 5th: Christian Vázquez singled to right, Trevor Larnach scored. 2-1 MIN
SEA, Top 9th: Kolten Wong homered to right (357 feet), Taylor Trammell scored. 3-2 SEA
MIN, Bottom 9th: Max Kepler doubled to right, Alex Kiriloff scored. 3-3 TIE
MIN, Bottom 10th: Carlos Correa singled to right, Donovan Solano scored, Ryan Jeffers to second. 4-3 MIN
Batting
SEATTLE MARINERS
J.P. Crawford: 5 at-bats, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, .260 batting average, .365 on-base percentage, .396 slugging percentage
Julio Rodríguez: 5 at-bats, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .244 batting average, .311 on-base percentage, .398 slugging percentage
Eugenio Suárez: 5 at-bats, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .225 batting average, .323 on-base percentage, .386 slugging percentage
Teoscar Hernández: 5 at- bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, .242 batting average, .293 on-base percentage, .421 slugging percentage
Mike Ford: 4 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, .254 batting average, .312 on-base percentage, .588 slugging percentage
Ty France: 3 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, .247 batting average, .320 on-base percentage, .367 slugging percentage
Tom Murphy: 4 at-bats, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 RBI, 1 home run, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, .277 batting average, .328 on-base percentage, .554 slugging percentage
Dylan Moore: 2 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, .128 batting average, .244 on-base percentage, .333 slugging percentage
Cal Raleigh: 1 at-bat, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .225 batting average, .307 on-base percentage, .422 slugging percentage
Taylor Trammell: 0 at-bats, 1 run, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .130 batting average, .286 on-base percentage, .326 slugging percentage
Cade Marlowe: 2 at-bats, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .167 batting average, .286 on-base percentage, .167 slugging percentage
José Caballero: 1 at-bat, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .227 batting average, .352 on-base percentage, .331 slugging percentage
Kolten Wong: 1 at-bat, 1 run, 1 hit, 2 RBI, 1 home run, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .162 batting average, .244 on-base percentage, .229 slugging percentage
MINNESOTA TWINS
Carlos Correa: 5 at-bats, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, .231 batting average, .307 on-base percentage, .406 slugging percentage
Edouard Julien: 1 at-bat, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts, .305 batting average, .393 on-base percentage, .537 slugging percentage
Kyle Farmer: 1 at-bat, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .251 batting average, .313 on-base percentage, .399 slugging percentage
Alex Kiriloff: 4 at-bats, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, .282 batting average, .371 on-base percentage, .465 slugging percentage
Max Kepler: 4 at-bats, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .230 batting average, .295 on-base percentage, .439 slugging percentage
Matt Wallner: 4 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, .279 batting average, .426 on-base percentage, .395 slugging percentage
Willi Castro: 3 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, .242 batting average, .319 on-base percentage, .361 slugging percentage
Trevor Larnach: 3 at-bats, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, .213 batting average, .311 on-base percentage, .400 slugging percentage
Michael A. Taylor: 0 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .219 batting average, .268 on-base percentage, .405 slugging percentage
Donovan Solano: 1 at-bat, 1 run, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, .265 batting average, .368 on-base percentage, .396 slugging percentage
Christian Vázquez: 3 at-bats, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, .217 batting average, .289 on-base percentage, .291 slugging percentage
Joey Gallo: 3 at-bats, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, .176 batting average, .295 on-base percentage, .452 slugging percentage
Ryan Jeffers: 1 at-bat, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 RBI, 0 home runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, .276 batting average, .382 on-base percentage, .441 slugging percentage
Pitching
SEATTLE MARINERS
Luis Castillo: 7.0 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, 0 home runs, 104-65 PC-ST, 3.02 ERA
Justin Topa: 1.0 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 0 home runs, 10-8 PC-ST, 2.77 ERA
Andrés Muñoz: 1.0 innings pitched, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 0 home runs, 24-16 PC-ST, 2.95 ERA
Paul Sewald: 0.1 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 0 home runs, 5-5 PC-ST, 2.85 ERA
MINNESOTA TWINS
Kenta Maeda: 6.1 innings pitched, 6 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, 1 home run, 98-58 PC-ST, 4.62 ERA
Jovani Moran: 0.2 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 0 home runs, 5-4 PC-ST, 4.24 ERA
Jordan Balazovic: 1.0 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 0 home runs, 12-9 PC-ST, 1.29 ERA
Griffin Jax: 1.0 innings pitched, 2 hits, 2 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 1 home run, 19-13 PC-ST, 3.19 ERA
Jorge López: 1.0 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 0 home runs, 12-6 PC-ST, 5.09 ERA
Miscellaneous
Venue: Target Field
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Attendance: 22,969 (Capacity: 38,544)
Game Time: 2 hours, 37 minutes
Umpires: Rob Drake (Home Plate), Bill Miller (First Base), Chad Whitson (Second Base), Roberto Ortíz (Third Base)
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