Santiago (10-6) got the loss. But in his Target Field debut for the Twins on Tuesday night, Santiago encountered some of the same problems as the man he was traded for on August 1. After struggling in his Twins debut, he likely wanted a good start to endear himself to his new home.
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Jake Marisnick threw out Trevor Plouffe at the plate to preserve a one-run lead in the sixth inning, and the Houston Astros held on for a 7-5 win on Tuesday night at Target Field. The left-hander is 0-2 with Minnesota after going 10-4 in 22 starts for the Angels this season.
“I beat him in the second at-bat, jammed him, and he blooped it in for a single, then in the last at-bat I threw it way off the plate away and he hit it right up the middle”, Santiago said. On Tuesday he used 83 pitches to get through 5 1/3 innings.
All four of Altuve’s hits on Tuesday were singles; and a couple of those were jam shots.
“You just try to throw it up there, make a good pitch and hopefully he can hit it at somebody”, Santiago said. I do think Rosario has strong upside as a player when you combine the glove with a hitting ability that allows him to tread water despite a very obvious flaw that from time to time he’ll chase just about anything.
Recently acquired Hector Santiago (10-6), making his first home start for the Twins, gave up a 423-foot laser to Carlos Correa in the first to fall into quick 2-0 hole.
Devon Travis had a career-high four hits, including the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-5 on Monday night.
It was the 10th time this season Minnesota went back-to-back, the third-most in team history.
“Hector, after the two-run homer in the first, settled in pretty nicely”, Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “He did a nice job of keeping his pitch count down, which has been kind of a battle for him”.
The American League’s leading hitter will look to keep it going in game three of a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins when the teams play on Wednesday night at Target Field.
Carlos Correa drove in four runs, including a first-inning homer with Altuve on base.
Yadier Molina started and ended a five-run rally in the ninth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals stunned the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Monday night.
“This is all experience up here learning how to hit with runners in scoring position”, Grossman said.
Minnesota is giving the rest of the AL something to think about now as a playoff spoiler with some minor league call-ups getting more of a chance in the lineup. “It helps some other guys around (Altuve and Correa) take a little breath of fresh air and feel like they don’t have to carry the workload when our best guys are doing that”.
Polanco’s offense hasn’t been much of a question mark for the Twins, but the organization has tried to find the right position for the 23-year-old Dominican infielder.
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Polanco was again in the lineup at shortstop Tuesday against Houston and had no issues on anything hit his way. “We needed this type of game”. Houston will send LHP Dallas Keuchel to the mound against Minnesota RHP Ervin Santana.
