MINNEAPOLIS _ Houston right-hander Gerrit Cole walked Max Kepler and Jorge Polanco to open the first inning. Then Nelson Cruz hit a ball as hard as any Twins player in recent memory has.
Cruz squared up a Cole fastball that came off of his bat at 115.2 miles per hour _ the hardest hit ball by a Twin since STATCAST started tracking them in 2015. It had a 66 percent probability of being a hit _ unless it's anywhere near Astros shortstop Carlos Correa.
Correa snagged the hot grounder off the bounce, while falling back and landing on his rump, to start a double play. Eddie Rosario flied out to center to end the inning.
And the Twins were never the same, because Cole wasn't the same when he went to the mound for the second inning. That big arm started pelting the strike zone and overpowering Twins hitters so comprehensively that they didn't get their first hit until the sixth inning. Houston was well on its way to a 11-0 victory by then.
After holding off the Astros in a 1-0 win on Monday, there was no stopping the 2017 World Series champions on Tuesday as they took turns tagging Michael Pineda's offerings to the plate.
Pineda was fine until the third inning, when he plunked Jake Marisnick with a pitch then gave up a RBI double to George Springer. Pineda then had to strike out Marisnick with the bases loaded to get out of the fourth.
But Springer clubbed a home run and Correa added a sac fly in the fifth to give Houston a 3-0 lead. Pineda went out for the sixth and was greeted with a single by Robinson Chirinos, a two-run home run by Marisnick _ and a visit from Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who pulled him from the game trailing 5-0.
While some things were out of his control _ C.J. Cron dropped a throw in the fifth for an error and, Polanco missed a busted-bat grounder by Josh Reddick that generously was ruled a hit _ Pineda did most of the damage.
Or, the Astros damaged most of Pineda's pitches.
Of the 23 balls Houston hitters put in play on Tuesday, 12 were considered hard hits _ 95 miles per hour and higher. That included Springer's rocket in the fifth that dented the seats in left at 110.6 miles per hour.
Matt Magill replaced Pineda but gave up a home run to Alex Bregman and RBI single to Correa. That gave the Astros a 7-0 lead, the seventh time they have scored seven runs in a game this season. Houston scored four more runs in the eighth, three of them charged for Adalberto Mejia.
Meanwhile, Cole scooted through the Twins lineup. The double play started a run of 13 straight batters retired by the right-hander. He struck out at least two batters in four different innings _ as his fastball reached 98 mph _ including striking out the side in the fourth.
The few fans in the stands _ attendance was put at 12,181 _ cheered when Kepler lined a double into the right field corner in the sixth for the Twins first hit of the game. Cole responded by striking out four of the next five batters he faced.
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