Max Kepler homered and scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball as the Minnesota Twins topped the host Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Edouard Julien and Alex Kirilloff also went deep and Kenta Maeda pitched 6 1/3 strong innings for the Twins, who have won five of six games since the All-Star break.
Tom Murphy and Eugenio Suarez homered for the Mariners, who dropped to 2-4 on their 10-game homestand. Seattle will look to win on Thursday to gain a split of the four-game series.
After the Mariners rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie the score, Minnesota regained the lead in the eighth off reliever Andres Munoz (2-3).
Kepler hit a leadoff single and moved to third on Willi Castro’s one-out single. With two outs, a Munoz slider glanced off Murphy’s glove and rolled toward the backstop, allowing Kepler to make it 4-3.
Kirilloff hit a two-run shot in the ninth off Devin Sweet, who was making his major league debut.
Twins reliever Emilio Pagan (4-1) got the victory, and Jhoan Duran created but escaped a ninth-inning jam for his 16th save.
Minnesota opened the scoring in the second off Mariners All-Star Luis Castillo. Matt Wallner led off with a walk and advanced to second as Farmer grounded a one-out single to right field. With two outs, Ryan Jeffers grounded a run-scoring single up the middle.
It remained 1-0 until the fifth. With one out, Julien went deep to right-center field, the second consecutive game in which he homered. An out later, Kepler homered to center.
Castillo allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out a season-high 11.
Murphy got the Mariners on the scoreboard with one out in the sixth, launching a first-pitch slider over the wall in straightaway center.
With one out in the Seattle seventh, Jarred Kelenic grounded a single to left, ending Maeda’s night. Suarez greeted reliever Griffin Jax by hitting a two-run shot off the out-of-town scoreboard in left field. It was Suarez’s third consecutive game with a homer.
Maeda was charged with two runs on three hits in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander didn’t issue a walk and struck out nine, matching his season high.
Maeda allowed a leadoff single to J.P. Crawford in the first, then got a strikeout and a double-play grounder to end the inning. Maeda retired 15 consecutive batters before Murphy’s homer.
–Field Level Media
