MINNEAPOLIS _ Eduardo Escobar has never hit a walk-off home run. But an eighth-inning stunner? Close enough.
Escobar smacked a two-strike, 97-mph fastball from White Sox reliever Nate Jones onto the grass beyond the center-field wall on Tuesday, completing a stunning two-out, three-run comeback that earned the Twins a 4-2 victory in the opener of a Target Field doubleheader.
The Twins, shut out for seven innings by Chicago right-hander Reynaldo Lopez, suddenly came alive once Jones took over in the eighth. With two outs, Brian Dozier hit a hot smash that third baseman Yolmer Sanchez bobbled, allowing Dozier to reach on an infield single. Eddie Rosario then drew a walk, taking a 100-mph fastball in the dirt for ball four, and Miguel Sano lined a single into the left-field corner, scoring Dozier.
Escobar fell behind 1-2, but when Jones left a fastball belt-high in the middle of the plate, the Twins' cleanup hitter pounced. The ball cleared the wall, the crowd roared, and Escobar punched the air in triumph as he rounded first base. There was no Gatorade bath at home plate _ Fernando Rodney still had three outs to record, after all, which he did with ease _ but Escobar was rewarded when the crowd demanded a curtain call from the dugout.
The victory, in a makeup game from a wintry weekend in April, was particularly satisfying for the Twins, because it stopped a couple of annoying streaks. It was their first win following an off day since their second home game of the season, a skid of six straight losses. And it ended their four-game losing streak when Fernando Romero was the starter.
That one was the real oddball stat, given that Romero has been, aside from a splat in Kansas City last Wednesday, a consistently strong starter.
The rookie right-hander gave up a home run on the second pitch Tuesday, but then turned into the strike-throwing miser he's proven to be since arriving in Minneapolis one month ago, allowing only one more run. But for the third time in his nascent career, his teammates couldn't provide even a single run while Romero was on the mound, leaving Romero in danger of being tagged with his third loss of the season.
Instead, Romero backed his ERA back down below 4.00 once more (it's now 3.96), by scattering seven hits over six innings, giving up only Moncada's mammoth home run _ 430 feet off the batters eye _ and a two-out run-scoring double by Jose Abreu in the fifth inning. Rodney picked up his 11th consecutive save, and 13th overall.
