Trevor Plouffe also was thrown out at home in the bottom of the 6th inning on what would have been the game-tying run. Later in the game, Houston had runners at first and second base with nobody out on Altuve’s single to center field, but this time they held the runner. “I feel worse than anyone in this clubhouse”. “We lost the game because of that”. He struck out five. “They just kept coming”.
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Marwin Gonzalez grounded out to short, scoring Altuve for a 5-4 lead and ending Santiago’s night.
The four-hit night continued a MVP-caliber season for Altuve, who is hitting.398 in 65 games since May 26 and.493 in 38 road games since May 1.
“You get off to a good start against a good pitcher, and you’ve got your best guy [Ervin Santana] out there – and you just have to wipe it off the slate like it never happened”, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “Every time he hits the ball, it’s somewhere where nobody is not”.
“No matter the situation, you always need this kind of game”, Altuve said. “He’s one of the best hitters, obviously the best hitter right now, you just try to bear with it and minimize the damage”. Kurt Suzuki followed with a strikeout to end the inning against hard-throwing reliever Michael Feliz.
All four of Altuve’s hits on Tuesday were singles; and a couple of those were jam shots.
The Twins hit consecutive homers off Astros starter Mike Fiers in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. It was Correa’s 16th homer of the season and Houston’s first in eight games.
“We had to get offense going”.
“With 50 games, we’ve got to keep playing”. He runs the bases aggressively, intelligently, he creates havoc, disruptive. Albers, who memorably pitched 17⅓ shutout innings to open his Major League Baseball career for the Twins in August 2013, has appeared in only one Major League Baseball game since leaving Minnesota, for Toronto a year ago.
Dozier, the next batter, belted a two-strike changeup for his 23rd homer to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.
After spending much of the first half of the season in the cellar, the Minnesota Twins became an afterthought in the American League.
NOTES: Astros 2B Jose Altuve was back in the lineup.
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With a doubleheader Thursday, both teams will call up an extra player who can play in both games. Astros CF Carlos Gomez was not in the starting lineup. Jorge Polanco poked a single up the middle with Plouffe at second base, and Twins third base coach Gene Glynn waved him around. To make room, the club released OF Darin Mastroianni. Minnesota has won seven of its last 10 games and Brian Dozier is on a tear with six homers and 13 RBIs during the stretch.TV: 1:10 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston) PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Doug Fister (10-7, 3.47 ERA) vs. Twins RH Jose Berrios (2-2, 8.31) Fister, who is winless in his last three starts, settled for a no-decision in his last turn after allowing one run and nine hits in six innings against Texas. Houston will send LHP Dallas Keuchel to the mound against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana.
