Christian Vazquez drove in all three runs for the Twins, including a walk-off home run against Josh Hader, as Minnesota beat the Houston Astros, 3-2, in front of 28,056 at Target Field on Sunday.
Vazquez was facing the Astros’ left-handed closer when he spanked a high fly ball to left that just looped over the wall. It was his first career walk-off hit.
The Twins won 2 of 3 from Houston, which entered the series having won 13 of 15 games, and improved to a season-high 12 games over .500.
Simeon Woods Richards gave the Twins a quality start, allowing two runs on three hits and a pair of walks. Jhoan Duran earned the victory after pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Woods Richardson struggled early, giving up two runs on a hit, two walks and a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Jon Singleton singled to left to start the inning and moved to third on consecutive walks before No. 9 hitter Cesar Salazar hit a fly ball to center to score Singleton and make it 1-0. Jose Altuve then singled to left to score Jake Meyers and make it 2-0.
But Woods Richardson settled down, throwing four 1-2-3 innings the rest of the way.
The Twins, meanwhile, manufactured a couple of runs to tie the game. Byron Buxton reached on a one-out single in the second, moved to second on Matt Wallner’s walk and scored on a soft single to left by Vazquez to cut Houston’s lead in half.
In the fourth inning, Brooks Lee opened with a single — initially an error charged to Altuve — and moved to third on Wallner’s hard single to right field. Vazquez then grounded to third, reaching on a fielder’s choice when Altuve — and forcing out Wallner at second — threw home to try and cut down Lee.
Lee was safe, tying the game 2-2, but Vazquez was thrown out 1-3 after rounding first for the second out, and after Trevor Larnach walked, Kyle Farmer struck out.
Farmer entered the game as a replacement for Carlos Correa, who was hit in the right hand by Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti in the first inning. Correa was diagnosed with a contusion on one of his fingers. Twins said initial scans were negative.
Jose Miranda, who tied a major league record with his 12th hit in 12 straight at-bats on Saturday, pinch hit for Farmer in the seventh and singled to left on the first pitch he saw. He was then cut down trying to steal second, 2-6.
The Twins had a golden opportunity to plate the go-ahead run in the eighth after Kepler drew a leadoff walk and Byron Buxton reached on a swinging bunt. But Brooks Lee, who extended his hitting streak to five games to start his major league career, hit into a 6-4-3 double play and Kepler was stranded at third when Manny Margot grounded out to short.
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