The Twins staved off loss No. 100 for at least another day after they finally got some decent pitching and timely hitting to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Saturday.
For the Twins, the win snapped a seven-game losing streak. For the M’s, the loss means they are now 2.5-games back in the American League wild card chase with one more game at Target Field on Sunday. The Twins also improved to 4-1 against the M’s this season.
September has been another tough month for the Twins, although this time the offense has disappeared on them, largely due to injuries. Joe Mauer is out, Trevor Plouffe is out, Eddie Rosario is out and slugger Miguel Sano was temporarily out of the lineup until the Seattle series. Sano tripled in Friday’s loss and hit a solo shot on Saturday. That run was the difference and it held up the rest of the game.
Rice University product Tyler Duffey scattered four hits over seven innings, Taylor Rogers struck out the side in the eighth and Brandon Kintzler recorded his 15th save.
Hector Santiago, who apparently has had some success against the Mariners, gets the ball on Sunday.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are on the brink at 56-99.
-Brian Dozier hit home run No. 42 on Thursday.
-The Twins committed two more errors on Saturday to give them 122 on the season. Sano and Jorge Polanco were the guilty parties on Saturday, but they redeemed themselves by each hitting a home run.
-Saturday’s game was played in two hours and six minutes, which ties the record for shortest game at Target Field.
-Sano hit his 24th home run on Saturday.
-Good riddance to the Detroit Tigers. The Twins finished 4-15 against them this season.
At 2 hours, 6 minutes, tonight's 3-2 Twins win was shortest game at Target Field since a 4-1 win over White Sox on June 15, 2011 (also 2:06)
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) September 25, 2016