MINNEAPOLIS — Jose Berrios pitched seven scoreless innings and the Twins mounted three runs in the fifth to beat Houston, 5-2, on Saturday.
With the three-game series now even at a game apiece, the Twins improved to 26-38, still far behind in the American League Central. Houston fell to 36-28, trailing Oakland in the AL West.
Miguel Sano started the scoring in the fourth inning. Trevor Larnach hit a line-drive single, and Sano batted him home with a two-out double that ricocheted off the center-field wall.
The Twins' big fifth inning actually began with a strikeout, but Nick Gordon was able to reach first on a passed ball. He then stole second base — his second steal of the night making the rookie 5 for 5 this season — setting up Ben Rortvedt's RBI double to the center-field warning track.
Jorge Polanco then stepped up for a two-run homer off the second deck videoboards to put the Twins ahead 4-0. That pretty much ended Houston starter Luis Garcia's night after giving up six hits, four runs (three earned) and a walk with just four strikeouts.
Berrios had allowed just three hits through six innings, striking out eight — though several of those called strikes were pretty far outside the zone. But in the seventh, the Astros cut the Twins' lead in half, hitting back to back home runs off Berrios. Kyle Tucker sent his to the bullpen before Robel Garcia hit his to right field.
Berrios left the game after that inning, allowing five hits and two runs with just one walk.
But the Twins came back responded in the bottom of that inning, taking advantage of reliever Brooks Raley. Andrelton Simmons hit a leadoff double to the left-field corner and advanced to third on Rortvedt's ground out. Polanco scored him with his third hit of the night. Nivaldo Rodriguez stepped in only to walk Nelson Cruz and hit Larnach with a pitch. But Sano lined out to end the bases-load threat.
The Twins again had a gifted opportunity at the bottom of the eighth to increase their lead. Rodriguez walked Alex Kirilloff to start and hit Simmons with a pitch to put runners on first and second. But Rortvedt lined out before anyone could score.
The 18,767 announced fans also continued their heckling of the Astros, fallout from the 2019 sign-stealing scandal.
"This is something that I think is unfortunate. I don't think anyone, home or away, whether you're the Astros themselves or anyone playing them, no one wants to hear those kinds of things at the ballpark," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "But you're certainly not going to be able to dictate what the fans are thinking and what they're going to do or say. All that being said, we're just here to play the game, and I mean that. Of course you hear everything that goes on. You hear almost everything."
Despite the distraction, Hansel Robles and Taylor Rogers were able to come in and pitch clean eighth and ninth innings to end the game. Baldelli saved the team's most trusted relievers for this game, despite needing their reliability in a back-and-forth loss Friday. Rogers came in briefly for a three-pitch strikeout and Robles not at all.
"Bringing Rog out to throw more than just to Alvarez ends up putting you in a spot where he's probably down today completely if we do," Baldelli said of Friday's game. "To do that in that game where we're losing, to pitch him in a game when we're down and then not have him the following day for anything at all, was not a road that I thought was the road to go down."
Rogers did strike out two of his three batters faced in the ninth to record the save.
