Pablo López returned on Friday night, and so, too, did the Twins’ offense.
Shut out in action during their rain-shortened loss a day earlier, the Twins erupted for a season-high 11 runs in support of López in their 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Target Field.
Leadoff hitter Edouard Julien started the Twins’ offense off on the right foot, drawing a walk to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Two more baserunners reached — Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch in the wrist area and later departed the game and Trevor Larnach walked — before Carlos Correa’s sacrifice fly brought Julien home and gave the Twins their first lead of the game.
It was one of four walks on the day for Julien, who scored three runs. As a team, the Twins took advantage of their free baserunners with five batters who walked — plus one who was hit by a pitch — coming around to score.
There were plenty of hits to speak of, too. Larnach, Byron Buxton and Mickey Gasper collected two apiece. For Gasper, his fourth-inning single was the first RBI of his career and came as part of a six-run inning for the Twins.
Julien’s bases-loaded walk forced in a run in the fourth and Buxton’s sacrifice fly brought home another before Gasper’s hit. Larnach then broke open the game with a three-run home run, his third in his past four games. Buxton also hit a home run in the win, along with a triple.
All the run support was more than enough for López, who was pitching in his first game since April 8, when he strained his right hamstring.
López (2-1) gave up two runs in his five-inning outing, including one in the second that tied the game up at the time. He allowed a second run in his last inning of work on an RBI single from Angels star Mike Trout. But otherwise, it was a strong return for the Twins’ top starter.
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