ANAHEIM, Calif. — Louis Varland threw more fastballs, Willi Castro pulled off a squeeze play, Byron Buxton refused to stop at second base and Trevor Larnach circled the bases because the Angels couldn't stop him. The Twins used all that extra aggression, bordering on cheekiness, Saturday night and it earned them a 6-2 victory at Angel Stadium.
Now they have to hope it wasn't too much.
Buxton reached base three times, once beating out a double-play relay and twice drawing walks. On the two occasions that Kyle Farmer followed him by hitting singles to the outfield, Buxton hustled around second base and raced to third, sliding head-first each time.
It's exciting for the Twins when their designated hitters uses his speed like that, but this time, it came with a price. Buxton was removed from the game for pinch-hitter Edouard Julien in the sixth inning, the result, the Twins said, of tightness in his right leg. The extent of his condition was not announced.
That was the lone hiccup in a night that otherwise went just as the Twins had hoped, and provided some relief from the bullpen shortcomings that have plagued their weeklong Southern California trip. Minnesota scored three first-inning runs, one of them on Castro's squeeze play, to back Varland, Joey Gallo hit his fourth home run of the week, and though Larnach didn't get credit for a home run, he still enjoyed an entertaining tour of the bases.
The Twins' outfielder lined a 3-2 cutter from Andrew Wantz into the right-field corner in the seventh inning, which drove in Farmer from first base. Anticipating a throw to the plate, Larnach kept running around second base. Second baseman Brandon Drury hurried the throw in that direction, but it skipped past Gio Urshela as Larnach slid head-first.
Larnach jumped up and headed home on the error, as Urshela retrieved the ball. Urshela's throw to the plate beat Larnach there, but was too high, and Larnach slid — well, more like plopped — across the plate safely.
That was more than enough cushion for Varland, who stuck to his fastball more than 63% of the time and got nine swing-and-misses with it. Varland didn't allow a runner to reach base until the fourth inning, and gave up just two runs before being pulled with two runners on in the sixth inning.
Jovani Moran worked out of Varland's mess without a run, and Jorge Lopez, Brock Stewart and Jhoan Duran completed the Twins' victory without another run. The Twins will have a chance to win a series against the Angels in Sunday's finale, but it won't be easy. Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to pitch for the Angels, against Pablo Lopez.
