MINNEAPOLIS — Sonny Gray said after pitching five shutout innings at Kansas City last week: "I've got a lot of adjustments to make, a lot of self-evaluating to do. … I definitely need to attack the [strike] zone more."
Gray in his next start, Friday's home opener at Target Field: 13 strikeouts against Astros, a new career high and most ever in a Twins home opener.
Sometimes, it really is that simple.
Kyle Farmer backed up his former Reds teammate's pitching by grounding a well-place, bases-loaded, 10th-inning single to center field on Friday, driving Trevor Larnach home and delivering a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Astros. The Twins were 0 for 8 with bases loaded this season until Farmer connected on the biggest hit of the Twins' season thus far.
The victory was the Twins' sixth in their past seven home openers, and snapped a six-game losing streak to the Astros.
Gray totally handcuffed the defending World Series champions and extended the rotation's streak of starts with no more than one run allowed to seven consecutive games to open the season. And for perhaps the most dominating pitching performance ever in a Minnesota home opener, Gray earned a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 38,465.
But not a victory.
That because José Urquidy, though a lot more hittable than Gray, kept the Twins frustrated with runners on base. Minnesota went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position until the 10th inning, stranding 12 runners on base. The Twins collected 11 hits on the day, but 10 were singles, none of them timely until the 10th.
Not as timely, anyway, as Alex Bregman's second-inning line drive to right, a single that drove home Mauricio Dubón, the lone blemish on Gray's day.
The Twins finally tied the score in the sixth, with a little help from Astros reliever Bryan Abreu, who threw a pitch to the backstop, allowing Donovan Solano to score from third base. But when Michael A. Taylor ended the inning with a strikeout, the Twins never advanced another runner to second base until the extra-inning rules put one there to start the 10th.
That's when the Twins took advantage. With one out, Astros reliever Ryne Stanek bounced a splitter past catcher Martin Maldonado, moving Byron Buxton to third. Trevor Larnach walked, and Jose Miranda followed with a line-drive single to right, pointing to the dugout in celebration as he ran to first.
Stanek then intentionally walked Solano to load the bases, perhaps sensing the Twins' futility in those situations. But Farmer smacked a 1-1 fastball straight up the middle, a ball neither shortstop nor second baseman could reach, and the crowd erupted as Larnach crossed the plate for the victory.
