Twins slug 3 homers in eighth, power past Cubs

Ryan Jeffers went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, and the Minnesota Twins used a six-run eighth inning to surge to an 8-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

Harrison Bader finished 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for Minnesota, which won for the third time in its past four games. Royce Lewis went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, and Willi Castro hit a solo homer.

Justin Turner hit a solo shot that marked his 200th career homer and the only run for Chicago.

Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5) allowed two hits in five scoreless innings. He walked three and struck out four.

Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga (5-3) gave up two runs on five hits in six innings.

The Twins jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

Byron Buxton hit a leadoff double to left and scored moments later when Jeffers followed with his own double to left. Jeffers advanced to third on Carlos Correa’s one-out single and sprinted home to score on Lewis’ sacrifice fly to center.

The Cubs threatened with runners on first and third with two outs in the third. Woods Richardson escaped the jam when he retired Seiya Suzuki on a swinging strike to end the inning.

Once again, the Cubs had runners on first and third with two down in the sixth against the Twins left-hander Danny Coulombe. The threat ended much like the earlier threat when Dansby Swanson struck out swinging against Twins reliever Brock Stewart to leave runners stranded on the corners.

The Twins broke the game open with six runs in the eighth.

Jeffers hit a 420-foot, two-run homer into the second deck of the bleachers in left, and Castro followed moments later with a 360-foot solo shot that landed just beyond the wall in right.

The back-to-back blasts marked Jeffers’ seventh homer of the season and Castro’s eighth.

Lewis drove in the fourth run of the inning when he ripped an RBI single past Swanson at shortstop. The hit scored Correa, who had doubled, from second.

Bader capped the big inning with a mammoth 446-foot, two-run homer to left. Bader pumped his fist to celebrate homers in back-to-back games and four homers in his past four games.

Turner got the Cubs on the scoreboard with his solo homer in the ninth.

–Field Level Media