TORONTO _ Mitch Garver smacked four hits and drove in five runs. Joe Mauer doubled twice, each time collecting an RBI. But when the Twins really needed a clutch plate appearance, Max Kepler's left shin came through.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the 11th inning, Kepler took a Ben Petricka slider off his back leg, forcing in the go-ahead run and sparking a sudden landslide of offense. The result was a 12-6 victory over the Blue Jays, and the Twins' first sweep in Rogers Centre in 15 years.
The win kept the Twins 7{ games behind Cleveland in the AL Central, with a four-game series against baseball's best team, the Red Sox, next up on this strange road trip. The Twins were swept by last-place Kansas City, but won three straight in Canada for the first time since 2003.
Once Petricka was removed, Jays manager John Gibbons was ejected and Luis Santos took the mound, the Twins rattled off four consecutive hits to turn the back-and-forth game into a rout. Garver doubled to deep left-center, Robbie Grossman sliced a double down the left-field line, and Mauer and Eddie Rosario singled to make it a decisive six-run inning.
The win tied the Twins' fourth-most-lopsided extra-inning victory ever, and was their biggest since an 11-5 win in Kansas City on Aug. 28, 2014.
The game was supposed to be a celebration of Ervin Santana's return from February finger surgery, but the former All-Star showed considerable rust as he made his first start since last October's wild-card playoff game in New York. He allowed at least one hit in all five of his innings; working with a fastball that never left the 89-91-mph range, Santana gave up three doubles, four singles, a walk and he hit a batter. He gave up single runs in the fifth, second and fifth innings, but he nevertheless left with a lead that the Twins' bullpen couldn't hold.
Trevor Hildenberger, who last month reeled off 16 straight scoreless appearances, surrendered three runs and a 6-3 lead in the eighth inning, though bad luck played a role. With a runner on first and one out, Randal Grichuk hit a hard ground ball that glanced off Eduardo Escobar's glove and bounced into the vacant territory in short left field, a double rather than a double play. After a walk to Teoscar Hernandez loaded the bases, Luke Maile lined a two-run single that scored two runs, and Aledmys Diaz hit a ground ball to short too softly for the Twins to turn it into a double play. The force out at second scored Hernandez and tied the score, sending the game to extra innings.
Garver, who had three hits in Monday's victory, contributed three more against three different pitchers on Wednesday, and each one drove home a run. A second-inning single off Toronto starter Sam Gaviglio brought home Jorge Polanco with a game-tying run, part of a three-run rally keyed by Mauer's double to deep center. Garver broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth by smashing an Aaron Loup sinker into the left-field seats, his fifth home run of the season. And in the eighth, Garver brought another with a single through Toronto's drawn-in infield.
