With late inning heroics from Trevor Story, the Rockies pulled off the win and extended their winning streak to six games. The Rox quickly scored a run in the first, but the Twins answered with three solo home runs against Kyle Freeland. The Twins carried their lead to the seventh, until the Rockies tied it up. Story’s solo home run in the eighth put Colorado in front 4-3 and turned out to be the game-winning run.
Rox get back in the game
Nolan Arenado’s first inning, RBI double to right-center may have put the Rockies ahead early, but their lead didn’t last long. The Twins began their trio of home runs in the second inning, led off by Nelson Cruz, and two more solo shots in the sixth gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead. Devin Smeltzer, the Twins starting pitcher, exited after throwing five innings, and the Rockies were able to string together a few hits off of relief pitcher, Rich Hill. In the top of the seventh, Ryan McMahon hit an RBI double to left to bring home Daniel Murphy, followed by a single up the middle from Sam Hilliard to score McMahon and quiet the fans at Target Field. And in true Trevor Story fashion, the Rockies came out on top with the Silver Slugger shortstop hitting his 20th home run this season out to left.
Freeland earned his fourth win, and his final line on the night came to: 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 5 SO. Unfortunately, K-Free’s ERA took a hit in the process and rose from 4.14 to 4.17. However, the bullpen did a great job of holding off the Twins to two hits among three innings. Antonio Senzetala, Wade Davis, and Scott berg each did an inning of work in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively.
Up Next
The Rockies look to sweep the Twins on Sunday, and stretch their winning streak to seven games. On the mound for the Rockies is Chi Chi Gonzalez (2-6, 5.33 ERA) and Randy Dobnak (6-2, 3.02 ERA) for Minnesota. Catch the game live on YouTube Sunday afternoon.