Miguel Sano hit a two-run homer with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Minnesota Twins a 7-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Sano socked a 3-1 slider from Heath Hembree (1-3), sending it 402 feet into the bleachers in left-center for his 14th homer of the season. He drove in Andrelton Simmons, who started the inning as the designated runner, and also ended the longest game in the majors this season (five hours, 14 minutes).
Nelson Cruz homered, Max Kepler and Alex Kirilloff each had two hits and two walks and Luis Arraez and Sano had two hits and two RBIs apiece for the Twins.
Minnesota earned its fifth consecutive victory, the team’s longest winning streak of the season. It also was the fourth straight victory in a game that went extra innings for the Twins, who began the season 0-8 in that category.
Matt Shoemaker (3-8) picked up the victory with two innings of shutout relief.
Eugenio Suarez and Aristides Aquino hit home runs, Jonathan India had three hits and Joey Votto and Suarez added two hits each for Cincinnati, which lost its fifth consecutive game.
Reds starter Tyler Mahle allowed three runs on four hits and two walks in the second inning as the Twins jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.
Cruz started the rally with his 16th home run of the season, a 424-foot line drive into the bleachers in left that had an exit velocity of 116.5 mph.
Kepler followed with a walk and advanced to third on a single by Jorge Polanco. Kirilloff then singled to drive in Kepler. Ryan Jeffers walked to load the bases, and one out later, Arraez drove in Polanco with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Cincinnati came back to tie it in the fourth on back-to-back homers by Suarez, a 430-foot, two-run shot to left-center that drove in Tyler Stephenson, who had walked, and Aquino, a solo blast to left.
Cincinnati took a 5-3 lead in the 10th on an RBI single by Nick Castellanos and a sacrifice fly by Suarez, but the Twins rebounded to tie it in the bottom half on an RBI double by Arraez and a sacrifice fly by Trevor Larnach.
Mahle yielded three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in four innings. Twins starter J.A. Happ gave up three runs on five hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.
Twins center field Byron Buxton, hit on the left hand by a fourth-inning pitch, exited the contest two innings later with what was the team called a left hand contusion.
–Field Level Media