SEATTLE (AP) — Royce Lewis hit a tying home run in the seventh inning and Luke Keaschall smacked a go-ahead double as the surging Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Friday night.
Minnesota’s seventh victory in nine games gave the Twins (56-55) a winning record for the first time since April 21, when they were 12-11. They are tied with Cleveland for the final American League playoff spot, and both teams are three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
The skidding Mariners (53-58) have lost three straight and eight of 10 to fall three games behind AL West-leading Houston.
Yoendrys Gómez walked two in the ninth but locked down his 14th save of the season. Kody Funderburk (2-1) tossed 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief after Zebby Matthews struck out a career-high 10 in five innings of three-run ball.
Lewis led off the seventh with a no-doubt drive to left field off left-hander José A. Ferrer (4-2) to make it 3-all. Alan Roden reached on an infield single and, one-out later, Keaschall put the Twins up for good with his RBI double off Eduard Bazardo.
Ryan Jeffers added an insurance run in the eighth. He drove a sweeper from Bazardo into the Twins bullpen for his 10th home run to give Minnesota a 5-3 lead.
Seattle took a 2-0 advantage in the first on a two-out, two-run double by Cal Raleigh off Matthews. A two-run homer by Brooks Lee in the second evened the score before Seattle went back in front 3-2 on a homer by Cole Young.
The Mariners placed third baseman J.P. Crawford on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation and recalled infielder Leo Rivas from Triple-A Tacoma.
The Twins acquired right-hander Dean Kremer from Baltimore and veteran reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets in separate trades Friday.
Up next
RHP Logan Gilbert (8-6, 3.44 ERA) gets the ball for Seattle on Saturday against Minnesota LHP Connor Prielipp (3-5, 4.73).
Mariners place third baseman J.P. Crawford on 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Mariners placed third baseman J.P. Crawford on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation and recalled infielder Leo Rivas from Triple-A Tacoma before Friday night’s series opener against the Minnesota Twins.
The move is retroactive to July 30. Weston Wilson will start in place of Crawford at third base on Friday.
Crawford, 31, injured his wrist while swinging. He won’t do any baseball-related activity for three to five days, and will receive an injection in his wrist, according to general manager Justin Hollander.
“I would anticipate he’s a couple weeks down,” Hollander said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a month or anything like that.”
It will be Crawford’s third stint on the injured list. He began the season on the 10-day injured list due to a right shoulder injury, and went back on the injured list in June with a right hand contusion.
Crawford is hitting .212 with 30 RBIs in 87 games, and his 10 home runs are the third-most of his career.
Rivas, 28, is hitting .131 in 38 games with the Mariners this season. He has appeared in 13 games with Tacoma this season, hitting. 186 with two home runs and a .732 OPS.