MINNEAPOLIS — Max Kepler's leadoff home run traveled 358 feet, and Brent Rooker's blast on the next pitch flew even further, 436 feet. And after that? The Twins went absolutely nowhere.
Journeyman righthander Jaime Barria and two Angel relievers shook off the worst possible start and limited the Twins to two singles over the rest of Sunday's game, Shohei Ohtani crushed a tie-breaking home run onto the right-field plaza, and the Angels inflicted a third loss in four days, 6-2 at Target Field.
Barria, who had allowed seven runs in six innings in his two previous appearances for the Angels this year, didn't allow a runner to advance beyond second base after the back-to-back rockets to open the game, going seven otherwise spotless innings while striking out four. Angels pitching held the Twins to 10 runs in the four-game series, and allowed only 12 hits in their three victories.
Bailey Ober started for the Twins and enjoyed his best start yet, giving up only three hits in 5 1/3 innings. One of the hits was an RBI triple to Angels catcher Max Stassi, and one was Stassi's eighth home run of the season, so Ober left the game tied, 2-2 in the sixth.
The tie lasted two pitches from reliever Danny Coulombe. One was a ball, the other a slider in the middle of the strike zone, which Ohtani rocketed over the seats in right field, his MLB-leading 35th homer of the season.
The Angels tacked on three runs in the ninth off Jorge Alcala, with Stassi again in the middle of it, driving in his third run of the day with a line-drive single. Brandon Marsh also doubled home a run, and Jack Mayfield finished the scoring with another double off Alcala.
The Twins, 3-8 since the All-Star break and back in last place in the AL Central, open a three-game series with Detroit on Monday at Target Field.
