'A reflection of the Twin Cities': Minnesota fans gather for a season opener win
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Kyle Farmer bounced a bases-loaded single straight up the middle of a drawn-in Houston infield in the 10th inning, giving the Minnesota Twins a 3-2 victory over the over the whiff-prone Astros in their home opener Friday.
After Ryan Pressly struck out all three Twins batters in the ninth and Mauricio Dubón drove in the automatic runner with a 10th-inning single to give the Astros the lead, Ryne Stanek (1-1) lost control with two wild pitches and two walks.
Jose Miranda, who went 3 for 5, tied it with a single after automatic runner Byron Buxton took third on a wild pitch. After Donovan Solano was intentionally walked, Farmer delivered for the sellout crowd of 38,465 on a sunny 49-degree afternoon after the game was delayed a day for better weather.
Twins starter Sonny Gray had a career high with 13 strikeouts in seven innings. Jo López (1-0) was the winner after pitching the 10th.
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The Twins stranded four runners in scoring position against Astros starter José Urquidy, who retired former Astros catcher Christian Vázquez on a bases-loaded pop-up to end the fourth inning. The Twins are 0 for 8 with the bases loaded this season.
Urquidy was removed with one out and two on in the sixth, when Donovan Solano scored the tying run on a wild pitch by reliever Bryan Abreu.
Gray, who pitched five scoreless innings in a win at Kansas City last week despite a lack of velocity and command, had his sharp stuff. He was irked at times last year during his debut with the Twins by the extra-careful approach to starting pitcher workloads, and he challenged his rotation teammates during spring training to last deeper into games this season.
This was a perfect example. With an extra day of rest thanks to the pre-emptive postponement, Gray threw 98 pitches and only had one runner past second base. Alex Bregman drove in Dubón with a two-out single in the third, after Dubón — who’s been filling in for the injured Jose Altuve at second base — started the inning with a double.
Carlos Correa went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and a double-play groundout for the Twins against his former team, the defending champions who went 106-56 in 2022. That included a 6-0 mark against Minnesota, by a combined 36-11 score.
The Twins, who’ve been off to a slow offensive start with second baseman Jorge Polanco and first baseman Alex Kirilloff missing from the lineup due to injuries, lost right fielder Joey Gallo to soreness in his right side after five innings.
Fans were decked out with their favorite Twins gear all in the name of Minnesota baseball. Music legends Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam Harris threw the ceremonial first pitches.
Odell Brown of St. Paul was in attendance for his fourth home opener. He says he likes to kick of the season with the rest of the fans.
“This is a reflection of the Twin Cities right here … this one place,” he said.
This was also the first time for fans to see the new scoreboard, dubbed, “scoreboard 2.0.” It is 178 feet wide and 76 percent larger than the previous board and officially the sixth largest scoreboard in the league.
Security technology was also updated with scanners from Evolv technology. Like metal detectors, they use a magnetic field to detect weapons as people walk through them, but the magnetic field can tell the difference between things like keys or a handgun.
The next game is Saturday at 1:10 p.m.