MINNEAPOLIS — The Astros were already well aware of it, but they were reminded on Saturday: That shortstop the Twins acquired last winter sure gets some big hits.
Just wait till Carlos Correa does, too.
Yep, the addition of Kyle Farmer, not his more expensive and familiar teammate, has changed Minnesota's fortunes against the defending world champions. One day after delivering the game-winning extra-inning hit, Farmer smacked a three-run home run to give Minnesota an early lead Saturday, then doubled and scored the tie-breaking run in the Twins' 9-6 victory at Target Field.
Byron Buxton added an upper-deck home run, his first of the season, to help the Twins score more than five runs against Houston pitching for the first time since May 2, 2019.
Joe Ryan didn't allow a hit to the first eight hitters he faced and retired the final 11 batters as well in his six-inning, 10-strikeout start. But the four hitters between those streaks went single-single-walk and then Yordan Alvarez's third career grand slam, a fly ball that struck the top of the planters in front of the right-field seats.
That wiped out the 4-0 lead that the Twins had built on Farmer's first home run as a Twin, a blast into the Astros' bullpen in left-center, and a two-out RBI single by Trevor Larnach. Correa was instrumental in that second-inning uprising, too, doubling Christian Vázquez into scoring position ahead of Larnach's hit, but he was tagged out at the plate trying to score behind Vázquez.
Farmer — who entered the game with a 5-for-8 career history against Houston — was in the middle of the Twins' final rally, too. He followed Nick Gordon's leadoff walk with a single, and Gordon scored on Vázquez's single to left. Both were on base and had a good view of Buxton's 419-foot blast into the second deck in left field, his first home run since Aug. 14.
The Twins' bullpen appeared headed to its fifth scoreless outing of the season, with Jorge López and Griffin Jax following Ryan's five good innings and one bad one by retiring in order the three hitters each faced. But Jovani Moran, called upon to preserve the five-run cushion in the ninth, surrendered Jeremy Pena's second home run of the season, a two-run shot into the left-field corner.
When the next two hitters each hit two-out singles, putting the tying run on base, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli summoned Jhoan Duran to record the final out. He did, needing only three pitches, two curveballs and a 101.3-mph high fastball, to strike out pinch-hitter Yanier Diaz and record his second save of the season.
Twins pitchers followed Friday's 16-strikeout performance with 17 whiffs on Saturday, the first time they've ever reached 16 or more in back-to-back games.
