Twins pitchers strike out 17 in win over Astros
Minnesota Twins pitchers struck out 17 batters while Kyle Farmer and Byron Buxton each hit three-run homers in a 9-6 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon.
One day after Sonny Gray struck out a career-high 13 batters on Opening Day, Joe Ryan picked up where he left off, notching 10 strikeouts over six innings.
Although Ryan allowed a grand slam to Yordan Alvarez in the third inning, he allowed just three hits before Jorge Lopez struck out the side in the seventh, Griffin Jax struck out two in the eighth and Jovani Moran added a strikeout in the ninth inning.
While the pitchers did their job on the mound, Farmer was one of many Twins that did theirs at the plate. Farmer went 3-for-4 including a three-run homer in the second inning and hit a leadoff double before scoring the go-ahead run on Christian Vazquez's RBI double in the sixth inning.
Kyle Farmer took an extra scoop of the protein powder this morning!#MNTwins lead 3-0! 💣💣💣 pic.twitter.com/qf5o7U1ETv
— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 8, 2023
Vazquez added an insurance run on an RBI single in the eighth inning before Byron Buxton put the finishing touches on the victory with his first home run of the season.
Buck yeah! pic.twitter.com/tDMjoALEHZ
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) April 8, 2023
The Astros made things interesting with Jeremy Peña's two-run homer in the ninth inning, but with the game-winning run at the plate, Jhoan Duran got Yanier Diaz swinging for the 17th and final strikeout to secure the victory.
Trevor Larnach also went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk as the Twins improved to 6-2 on the season. The Twins will wrap up the weekend series with the Astros when Tyler Mahle (1-0, 1.80 ERA) takes the mound against Hunter Brown (0-1, 7.00 ERA) on Sunday afternoon.
