HOUSTON _ The Astros do more than deliver double-digit beatdowns. They know how to vary their attack.
The Twins saw that side of Houston on Sunday as they lost 5-3 at Minute Maid Mark. The Astros fell behind early but took the lead largely because Byron Buxton was not in center field, then they used their speed and savvy to finish off the Twins, who dropped two of the three games of the series.
Houston right-hander Mike Fiers displayed some moxie on the mound too, as he held the Twins to two runs on four hits over seven innings while striking out a season-high 11 batters. Fiers struck out eight Twins over the first four innings before breaking out his curveball to help with the final three.
Up 3-2 after the fourth, Houston scrambled for two more runs in the seventh. Jake Marisnick worked an 11-pitch walk off Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson to open the seventh, pushing Gibson's pitch count to 107 and bringing Paul Molitor out of the dugout to bring in Trevor Hildenberger.
Marisnick stole second, then watched George Springer ground out to Eduardo Escobar at third. As soon as Escobar threw to first, Marisnick took off for third. First baseman Kennys Vargas caught the throw for the out but threw wildly back to third, allowing Marisnick to score.
Jose Altuve followed with a ground-rule double to left, and Molitor inserted left-hander Buddy Boshers. Altuve stole third. As Boshers struck out Reddick, the ball bounced off catcher Chris Gimenez's pads and in front of home plate. Gimenez scrambled to pick up the ball, looked at Altuve, then threw to first. But Altuve took off for home as soon as Gimenez went to first. Vargas' throw, this time, was on line but late. And Houston had a 5-2 lead. The Twins got a sacrifice fly from Max Kepler in the ninth.
Yup, the Astros showed the Twins over the weekend why they are the best team in the American League.
Vargas put the Twins ahead 1-0 in the second inning with a 452-foot homer to right field on a 3-1 fastball by Fiers. The Twins scored first with a solo home run in each game of the series,
Gibson got the first two outs of the second but then gave up three straight hits, including Marisnick's RBI single that tied the game.
Ehire Adrianza, subbing for struggling Jorge Polanco, homered in the third inning to give the Twins a 2-1 lead. It was Adrianza's first home run as a Twin and his first since last Sept. 16.
The lead held up until the fourth, when Gibson went to three-ball counts four times and paid the price.
Yuli Gurriel doubled to lead off the inning, and Marwin Gonzalez followed with walk. Gibson struck out Alex Bregman for the first out, then had Nori Aoki down 1-2 when he left a slider a little up in the strike zone.
Aoki punched it to center field. Eddie Rosario, who was playing shallow, initially broke more toward right field than back. And the ball landed just outside of his reach as two runs scored to give the Astros a 3-2 lead. Rosario has played center field in the minors but has been a left fielder for the Twins and might have suffered from a lack of recent playing time there. Buxton, arguably the best center fielder in the game, catches that ball.
Gibson, who gave up seven earned runs in his last outing, stiffened from there. He needed a total of 16 pitches to get through the fifth and sixth innings.
And Molitor sent Gibson to the mound for the seventh inning having thrown 96 pitches. While Molitor has a reliable group of lead protectors in Tyler Duffer, Taylor Rogers and closer Brandon Kintzler, he's had trouble finding arms who can come in when the Twins are trailing and keep games close. So Gibson went out for the seventh. And the Marisnick at-bat happened.
