Cincinnati Reds at Minnesota Twins

· Major League Baseball

Cincinnati Reds

73-78, 37-39 Away

Final
2 - 9

Minnesota Twins

79-70, 42-33 Home

Rookie Brooks Lee's 5 RBIs help Twins rally past Reds 9-2

Ryan Jeffers had two hits and two runs for the Twins, who scored eight times in the sixth and seventh innings to avoid a three-game sweep.

“Hitting’s contagious. It always helps when there are guys on base,” said Lee, whose two-run single in the sixth gave the Twins the lead. “It’s fun with guys on base. I feel like you get more pitches to hit, there’s more chance for damage.”

Minnesota (79-70) maintained a 2 1/2-game lead over Detroit and Seattle (both 77-73) for the last AL wild card spot. The Twins play at Cleveland on Monday, starting a seven-game trip that ends in Boston.

“Honestly, I don’t think we’re really playing tight," Jeffers said. "It’s just how this game goes. You’re hot, you’re cold. You hope that while some guys are cold, some other guys are hot. It just so happened that for a week or so, the two-week stretch or whatever it is, there hasn’t been many guys that are hot to carry the load. But hopefully, with that being said, we can all get hot together.”

Cole Sands (8-1) allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, as did Jorge Alcala, who struck out four.

“Our pitching did a good job of stabilizing the middle of the game, and then the bats were able to break through,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We had multiple big hits and big at-bats and guys getting on base. A lot of what we were aiming for, we got.”

With the Twins trailing 2-1 in the sixth, Santana hit a one-out double off Rhett Lowder (1-2), who made his fourth major league start. Trevor Larnach walked, Tony Santillan struck out Willi Castro, Jeffers hit an RBI double and Lee singled for a 4-2 lead.

Santana hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Justin Wilson, a drive off the facing of the second deck in left, and Lee had a a bases-loaded triple down the right field line.

“Every day is a new day, a new game,” said Santana, a 15-year veteran who's playing his first season with the Twins. “Today is great. This is the game we need. We have 13 more games left and we have to finish strong.”

Twins starter David Festa gave up two run, three hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings, the second straight Minnesota starter who didn't get out of the fourth inning.

Spencer Steer hit an RBI triple in the fourth and scored on Ty France's sacrifice fly.

Reds: LHP Brandon Williamson (0-0, 2.08) starts against Atlanta on Tuesday, beginning the Reds' final homestand.

Twins: RHP Pablo López (15-8, 3.88) will take the mound on Monday to start a four-game series in Cleveland. The first-place Guardians will counter with LHP Matt Boyd (2-1, 2.18).

How can I watch Cincinnati Reds vs. Minnesota Twins?

TV Channel: Reds at Twins 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on Roku.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Twins: 52.5%

Reds: 47.5%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	De La Cruz struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Dunn singled to right.
	9th Inning	Marte struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Benson struck out looking.
	8th Inning	Lewis lined out to left.
	8th Inning	Wallner flied out to left.

Statistics

CIN		MIN
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	1
10	Ground Balls	7
11	Strikeouts	7
2	Runs Batted In	9
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
7	Hits	12
2	Stolen Bases	0
4	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
2	Runs	9
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	0
31	At Bats	35
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	11
1	Triples	1
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	3
11	Fly Balls	21
1	Caught Stealing	0
156	Pitches	144
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
9	Total Bases	20
38	Plate Appearances	38
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
1	Extra Base Hits	5
3.8	Runs Created	7.6
.226	Batting Average	.343
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.290	Slugging Percentage	.571
.226	Secondary Average	.286
.342	On Base Percentage	.395
.632	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.966
0.9	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.3
4.0	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	8.9
19.5	Batter Rating	59.5
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	35.0
0.67	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.11	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.79
.065	Isolated Power	.229
0.36	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.29
.105	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.053
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.057
4.0	Runs Produced	18.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.6
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.4
72.3	MLB Rating	102.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0