Ryan Kreidler’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning made the difference for the Minnesota Twins in their 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday in Minneapolis.
The two-bagger off Cardinals reliever George Soriano (3-1) hit the wall in left center to cap a brief but successful day for the shortstop, who singled as a pinch-hitter in the seventh. Kriedler also made a diving play on a sharp grounder by Jose Fermin to start the ninth. Fermin initially was ruled safe, but that was overturned when the replay showed Kriedler’s throw beat Fermin by a half-step.
Byron Buxton enjoyed a 3-for-5 day while Kody Clemens and Josh Bell both went 2-for-4 for the Twins, who took the rubber match of the three-game series. Victor Caratini added a two-run homer.
Buxton and Royce Lewis hit RBI singles in the seventh to level the game for the Twins.
Andrew Morris (2-2) allowed just one hit in the eighth inning and struck out three to keep the game tied. Yoendrys Gomez pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
JJ Wetherholt went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs for the Cardinals. Nathan Church went 2-for-3 and scored a run, and Alec Burleson homered to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.
Burleson gave the Cardinals the early lead with his 13th home run, a solo shot off Twins starter Taj Bradley in the fourth. However, Caratini went deep off Michael McGreevy in the latter half of the inning to put Minnesota up 2-1.
Bradley lasted 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven against five hits and a walk, but the Cardinals got to him for all four runs.
Wetherholt’s two-run homer in the sixth allowed St. Louis to reclaim the lead. After the Cardinals chased Bradley in the seventh with back-to-back two-out singles, Wetherholt singled off reliever Anthony Banda to give them a 4-2 lead.
McGreevy threw six innings, allowing just the two runs on Caratini’s homer. He gave up seven hits and two walks while striking out two. However, the bullpen could not secure his first victory since May 8.
Soriano struck out three in 1 2/3 innings, but he allowed three hits in addition to the go-ahead run.
–Field Level Media
