HOUSTON _ If the past week is an indication of what Eddie Rosario can do "when the weather gets warm," as he said, just imagine what the summer swelter might do to his offensive output.
Rosario reached out and deposited an 88-mph cutter from left-handed Astros starter Wade Miley into the Crawford Boxes in left field in the first inning Tuesday, a three-run homer that staked the Twins to an early lead. It didn't last, though, as Houston won 10-4 to end the Twins' winning streak at four.
It was Rosario's sixth home run in the past seven days, and his 10th in the season's first 21 games, making him the fastest Twin ever to reach double-digits. Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett hit his 10th home run in the 23rd game of the 1986 season, a franchise record that was no match for the hottest start of Rosario's career.
"I don't like hitting in the cold," Rosario said. "When the weather gets warm, I can just hit. Stop thinking about the cold, and just hit."
But the Twins' road trip has been a showcase for more than just Rosario's offense. In the fifth inning, the left fielder hustled to the corner and grabbed an Alex Bregman liner as it bounced off the scoreboard, then wheeled and fired it to second base in time to nail Bregman as he arrived at second base. That marked the third time on this trip that Rosario had contributed to an out on the bases, and his four outfield assists place him third in the AL.
Bregman's hit, however, drove home two runs, the most crucial hit in Houston's comeback from the early deficit that Rosario's opposite-field homer had built.
Michael Pineda flirted with trouble throughout his start, allowing the Astros' first batter to reach base in four of the six innings he started, and though a pair of double plays helped him limit the damage to one run through the first three innings, Houston's potent offense finally erupted in the fifth.
Josh Reddick led off with a double and went to third on a Tyler White single, setting the stage for a three-run inning. George Springer, who entered the game with a career .353 average (6 for 17) against Pineda, sizzled a grounder into the left-field corner to tie the game. He came home to give Houston a temporary lead on Bregman's single, with Rosario's defensive play preventing the inning from getting worse.
Minnesota, largely held in check by Miley, the first left-handed starter they had faced all year, responded by tying the game as soon as Miley was lifted. Jonathan Schoop started the two-out rally with a double, and came home on Max Kepler's single up the middle.
But the tie didn't last long. Trevor Hildenberger, who so many times has entered a game with the bases loaded, this time loaded them himself, giving up a single to White and walking Springer and Jose Altuve.
Bregman followed with a sacrifice fly to Kepler, and after Adalberto Mejia took over, Michael Brantley made it a two-run lead with a single to left.
Then the Twins got an unexpected break: A Tyler Duffey curveball bounced in the dirt, and ricocheted off Mitch Garver's foot and toward the right-handed batter's box. Correa reached out and touched the live ball, and as runners moved up, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli charged out of the dugout to claim interference. The four umpires conferred and agreed, calling Correa out and ending the threat with no further damage.
The Astros added another run in the eighth inning when Yuli Gurriel scored on a throwing error by Duffey, who made another error trying to get Reddick out at second.
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