Houston falls to Minnesota
Garcia's winning streak ends as Twins even series with Astros
After getting a late rally to power past the Twins in the opener, the Astros hoped to keep that momentum alive going into Saturday's middle game to secure the series win. Instead, the Twins grabbed the momentum, putting up enough runs against Luis Garcia to even the series.
Final Score: Twins 5, Astros 2
Astros' Record: 36-28, second in the AL West
Winning Pitcher: Jose Berrios (7-2)
Losing Pitcher: Luis Garcia (5-4)
Garcia runs into trouble to end his winning streak
After three scoreless innings on both sides, Minnesota would figure out Luis Garcia in the bottom of the fourth. They started the scoring for the evening with a two-out RBI double, then knocked Garcia out of the game in the bottom of the fifth with another RBI double followed by a two-run homer to go in front 4-0. That snapped Garcia's streak of five straight games in which he recorded a win, leaving this one in line for the loss, hoping for his offense to bail him out. His final line: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 84 P.
Astros launch a couple of homers but come up short to even the series
Oppo 🌮 for King Tuck! 👑#VoteTucker 🌟 https://t.co/dFd8aFPwNc pic.twitter.com/55VR6cxFv4
— Houston Astros (@astros) June 13, 2021
Blake Taylor came in from the bullpen as Houston's first reliever, finishing the fifth for Garcia, then returned for a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, retiring all five batters he faced. Houston cut the lead in half in the top of the seventh, getting back-to-back solo homers by Kyle Tucker and Robel Garcia, making it 4-2 when Brooks Raley took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning.
Minnesota put one run back on the board against him, getting a leadoff double then later an RBI single. Raley would face four batters while getting two outs before being lifted for Nivaldo Rodriguez. Rodriguez issued a four-pitch walk to his first batter, then hit the next with a pitch to load the bases, but Michael Brantley would make a great catch to save some runs to end the inning and strand all three runners.
Rodriguez walked and hit another batter in the bottom of the eighth but had solid defense behind him again to get through a scoreless frame to keep it 5-2. That score would go final, though, as Houston would get turned away at the plate in the top of the ninth, evening the series and setting up a rubber match on Sunday in the finale.
Up Next: The finale of this three-game series between the Astros and Twins, as well as Houston's last game of the road trip, will start at 1:10 PM Central on Sunday. Framber Valdez (2-0, 1.47 ERA) will go up against Michael Pineda (3-3, 3.46 ERA).