MINNEAPOLIS _ Houston stacked its lineup with right-handed hitters Wednesday, presenting a daunting task for Twins left-hander Martin Perez.
The Astros have been effective against left-handers, for the most part, this season. They entered Wednesday 6-1 in games started by southpaws, including wins over defending American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell of the Rays and talented Yankees lefty James Paxton.
Perez, however, was no pushover.
In what was his most impressive start with his new team, Perez led the Twins to a 6-2 victory by grounding a dangerous Astros offense. He threw a hard-to-square up fastball that reached 97 miles per hour as well as a cut fastball that tunneled in on the right-handed lineup. Houston swung early and open but had just three hits through seven innings.
In eight innings, a season-high by a Twins starter, Perez held Houston to four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. He needed just 100 pitches to do so.
Houston scored twice in the ninth to avoid a second shutout this series. The Twins send Jose Berrios to the mound on Thursday afternoon with a chance to win the four-game series.
The Twins, meanwhile, saw Jonathan Schoop hit the 1,500th home run in Target Field history, a two-run shot into the third deck in left that was estimated at 465 feet. It's how this Twins team rolls, as they entered the game third in baseball with 50 home runs hit.
But they added a couple runs by playing the game the right way, something that suggests that the Twins, 17-11, could be more than a small sample-sized wonder.
Perez improved to 4-0 on the season, tying Berrios and eight other AL starters with at least four wins on the young season. His toughest inning was the first, when he issued a leadoff walk to George Springer then gave up a single to Jose Altuve. He got Alex Bregman to fly out then Carlos Correa hit into an inning-ending double play.
Then Perez started dealing.
He retired eight of the next nine Astros hitters he faced, and he walked the ninth batter. Houston went from one out in the third inning to one out in the sixth without giving up a hit.
The Twins scored three runs in the third to open the scoring, including Schoop's two-run shot, which came on a 1-0 pitch from Astros right-hander Collin McHugh.
The blast came as the recently-retired Joe Mauer looked on from the ESPN television booth, where he sat in for a couple of innings. It was his first game back since retiring after last season.
"It's always a good place to hit in April and September," Mauer said. "They've got thump from one to nine. That's pretty exciting."
The Twins added a run in the inning when Byron Buxton singled, stole second then moved to third on Max Kepler's grounder to second. The productive out was important, because Jorge Polanco followed with a squibber to the left of the mound. Instead of throwing to first, McHugh tried to throw Buxton out and home but threw wildly. Buxton scored to make it 3-0.
Nelson Cruz drove in the next two runs, with a two-out RBI single in the third and a booming RBI double to left-center in the eighth. C.J. Cron added a sacrifice fly later in the inning as the Twins eased to a 6-0 lead.
Trevor Hildenberger gave up a pair of RBI singles in the ninth before pinch hitter Josh Reddick lined out to Marwin Gonzalez for the final out.
