Royce Lewis hit a grand slam for his first career home run and three other Twins homered to power Minnesota to a 12-8 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and Gary Sanchez each homered to join Lewis in the offensive outburst for Minnesota, which enjoyed its highest-scoring game of the season. Max Kepler added three hits and two RBIs.
Austin Hedges, Oscar Mercado and Andres Gimenez each homered for the Guardians. Jose Ramirez finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Twins reliever Griffin Jax (3-0) got the win despite allowing four runs on four hits in 2 1/3 innings. Jax followed starter Sonny Gray, who gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings.
Guardians starter Aaron Civale (1-3) surrendered six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Minnesota opened the scoring with a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the first. Buxton led off the inning with his 10th blast of the season, and Polanco followed two batters later with his fourth home run.
The Guardians got on the scoreboard in the third when Ramirez drove in Mercado on a groundout.
Hedges led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run, his third, to even the score at 2-2.
Next came the Twins’ biggest inning of the season. They scored nine runs in the bottom of the fifth.
The scoring binge started when Ryan Jeffers came home on a double-play grounder by Luis Arraez. Kepler had an RBI single two batters later to make it 4-2, and after Bryan Shaw replaced Civale, Sanchez clubbed a three-run homer.
Minnesota’s next three batters each reached base to set the stage for Lewis, and the rookie’s 395-foot shot to left field made it 11-2.
Mercado answered with a two-run homer for Cleveland in the sixth to cut the deficit to seven.
The Guardians chipped away further with two runs in the seventh to pull within 11-6. Ramirez had an RBI single, and Amed Rosario ripped an RBI triple.
Kepler added another run for the Twins in the eighth with a sacrifice fly.
Cleveland capped the scoring on a two-run blast by Gimenez with two outs in the ninth.
–Field Level Media