Jose Miranda hit a tiebreaking home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the host Minnesota Twins held on for an 8-7 win over the Oakland Athletics in the nightcap of a doubleheader Sunday in Minneapolis.
Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis also homered for the Twins, who completed a four-game sweep of the Athletics and won their fifth straight contest. Austin Martin and Carlos Correa added one RBI apiece.
Tyler Soderstrom went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for Oakland, which lost its ninth game in a row. JJ Bleday went 4-for-5 with a solo home run.
Twins right-hander Josh Staumont (1-0) earned the win in relief. It marked his first victory since Aug. 10, 2022, when he was with the Kansas City Royals.
Athletics right-hander Dany Jimenez (1-2) took the loss out of the bullpen.
Twins right-hander Griffin Jax pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his sixth save.
The Twins grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first. Lewis, who homered in the 6-2, opening-game victory of the split doubleheader, made it a two-homer day with his two-run shot in the nightcap.
The Athletics answered with three runs in the second to go ahead 3-2. A fielding error by Martin in center field allowed a pair of runs to score, and Zack Gelof drove in another run with a two-out double.
Larnach put the Twins on top 5-3 with a three-run homer in the bottom of the second. The shot marked Larnach’s seventh homer and his first since June 2.
Oakland pulled even at 5-5 thanks to a pair of solo blasts in the third. Bleday led off the inning with a homer to right-center field, and Soderstrom followed two batters later with a homer to center.
Martin tried to make up for his defensive miscue with an RBI double in the bottom of the third to give the Twins a 6-5 edge.
In the sixth, Correa ripped an RBI single to increase Minnesota’s lead to 7-5.
The Athletics battled back once again. Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers hit back-to-back, RBI singles to even the score at 7-7 in the seventh.
–Field Level Media