MINNEAPOLIS _ Carlos Correa belted a 430-foot opposite field home run in the seventh inning, the tiebreaking blow in Houston's 3-1 victory over the Twins on Wednesday at Target Field.
The Astros won the best-of-three American League wild-card series 2-0, extending the Twins' postseason losing streak to a major pro sports record 18 games.
Twins center fielder Byron Buxton was unable to start, presumably because of a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms from a Friday beaning. His replacement, Alex Kirilloff, was the third player in MLB history to make his postseason debut in a playoff game. Kirilloff had one of the Twins' three hits.
Buxton entered as a pinch runner in the eighth and was picked off. Left fielder Eddie Rosario was ejected in the sixth inning by plate umpire Manny Gonzalez for disputing a called strike. His replacement, Jake Cave, struck out on what would have been ball four in the eighth.
The Astros took a 1-0 lead off Twins starter Jose Berrios in the fourth on two walks and an RBI single by Kyle Tucker.
The Twins tied it in the bottom of the fifth when Nelson Cruz's two-out double to the left field wall scored Marwin Gonzalez from second. Luis Arraez tried to score from first on the play, but was out.
Correa's home run came off reliever Cody Stashak and gave the Astros a 2-1 lead.
Erstwhile Twins closer Taylor Rogers came on for the top of the ninth, faced three batters, and got no outs. Tucker tagged him for an RBI single to make it 3-1. Tyler Duffey came on to end the threat.
Ex-Twin Ryan Pressly pitched the ninth for the save.
Houston was one of two teams to make the expanded 16-team MLB playoffs this season with a losing record (29-31). The Astros are the defending American League champions.
