Altuve drives in winning run in 10th as Astros top Twins
Published
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jose Altuve drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the 10th inning after Yordan Alvarez tied it with a two-run homer in the ninth and the Houston Astros rallied from an early six-run deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 9-7 on Sunday.
Altuve's single off Twins reliever Louis Varland (1-1) scored automatic runner Brendan Rogers from third base. Jake Meyers then stole home on a double steal to make it 9-7.
Josh Hader (1-0) retired all six batters he faced to earn the victory.
The Twins led 7-1 after four innings, but the Astros came all the way back by scoring twice in the ninth off Twins reliever Griffin Jax to tie it at 7. Isaac Paredes led off with his fourth single of the game and Alvarez hit Jax's next pitch for his first home run of the season.
Matt Wallner had four hits and Trevor Larnach drove in three runs for Minnesota.
The Twins scored three runs in the first, a rally keyed by Ryan Jeffers' two-out, two-run double. They added three more in the fourth, with Byron Buxton and Larnach's back-to-back doubles driving in the runs as Minnesota took a 7-1 lead.
Key moment
With two on and two outs in the sixth, Alvarez sliced a sinking liner to left field off reliever Danny Coulombe. Harrison Bader charged in and made a diving catch to preserve Minnesota’s 7-5 lead.
Key stat
The Astros (.565) and Twins (.551) began the day ranked 29th and 30th in the league in OPS, but combined for 24 hits in the game.
Up next
Astros: Begin a three-game series at Seattle on Monday with RHP Hayden Weseneski (0-1, 5.40) starting the opener.
Twins: Send RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (0-0, 4.50) to the mound Monday when they open a four-game series at Kansas City.
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