The Twins beat the Astros 8-3 Wednesday night at Daikin Park, snapping Houston's five-game series winning streak. Taj Bradley was dominant on the mound, and the Twins took advantage of a rough night from Tatsuya Imai.
It was a tough night for Imai from the very first pitch. Trevor Larnach led off the game with a double, and after two quick outs, Josh Bell absolutely demolished a 2-1 slider, launching a 452-foot two-run homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.
Imai walked Kreidler to load the bases in the first but struck out Tristan Gray to end the inning. He threw 34 pitches in the first inning alone. Imai has had two previous outings where he couldn't finish the first inning, and another one looked like it was going to be added to that list, but he battled through it.
An inning later, Minnesota delivered an even bigger blow. Luke Keaschall and Brooks Lee both walked, bringing Kody Clemens to the plate. On a 3-1 fastball, Clemens hit a 399-foot three-run homer to make it 5-1. That ended Imai's outing after recording just five outs. Imai appeared to find his footing in mid to late June, but the Twins roughed him up Wednesday night and it was a step in the wrong direction.
Cam Smith hit a ball that missed being a homer by less than five feet, settling for a double. Taylor Trammell walked to put two runners on with nobody out. But Bradley buckled down and struck out the next three batters. He was dominant throughout, recording 10 consecutive outs by strikeout at one point and finishing with 11 strikeouts, tying his career high, over five innings, per MLB.
The Astros had some trouble brewing in the fifth when Raynel Delgado left the game with a dislocated right pinky finger after a groundball ricocheted off second base and hit his bare hand. Trevor Larnach hit a ball that clipped second base and kicked into center field for a two-run single off Nate Pearson to make it 7-1.
The Astros showed some life in the sixth when Joey Loperfido and Nick Allen hit back to back RBI singles to make it 7-3. But the Twins answered back with Luke Keaschall's homer in the eighth to make it 8-3, and that was the final score.
This snapped the Astros' series winning streak and is a step in the wrong direction. Stringing together some wins after a tough loss will be key heading into the weekend series against Tampa Bay.
