Twins come back to oust Mariners in “one of the best wins” in recent memory

SEATTLE Maybe it was the end of the adjustments he made in the batting cages in up-to-date days that Carlos Correa referenced Or maybe it really was the power of his positive thinking like he considered But either way Willi Castro was well aware of the fact that Mariners closer Andr s Mu oz had yet to allow a run and described himself that he would be the one to change that And with two outs in the ninth inning down three runs he sure did Castro s two-run home run off Mu oz his second long ball of the night brought the Twins back to within a run A couple batters later the Twins had tied it using hits from Byron Buxton fresh off the injured list and Trevor Larnach who finished with four on the day to tie it up An inning later Carlos Correa jumpstarted a six-run th inning with his third home run in seven games this one helping lift the Twins to a - win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park It was as much fun as we ve had playing baseball this year Correa explained Perhaps the best event of the year right there and it felt great It sure didn t start out that way for the Twins - Zebby Matthews making his third start of the season allowed a pair of singles to lead off the bottom of the first Shortly after Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh teed off on the first pitch he saw from Matthews The two North Carolinians hail from the same town Cullowhee and attended the same high school Anybody else would have been great Matthews griped after lamenting that he knew Raleigh too well for that to happen Raleigh s home run the first of two on the day for him the other coming off his former Florida State teammate Cole Sands was the first of two in the inning off Matthews plunging the Twins into a four-run deficit But Matthews recovered hastily throwing six scoreless innings after that giving up just two hits and cruising through the Mariners - lineup hastily and efficiently His seven-inning effort marked the longest outing of his major league career I got pretty pissed off there I can t lie to you Matthews mentioned Nobody wants to go out there and give up a four spot that early We stuck to the statement and it worked out better Sure did as Matthews who gave up four runs within the first five batters of the competition settled in well as his teammates started chipping away at Seattle s lead The Twins scored a pair of runs in the fourth one on Larnach s eighth home run of the season Castro s first home run which came in the seventh inning brought the Twins back within a run But things looked bleak when Sands allowed the two-run blast to Raleigh in the eighth putting the Twins down three once more And they looked even bleaker when Mu oz who had thrown scoreless innings heading into Friday got the first two outs of the ninth inning their win probability in the championship at that point infinitesimal In the world there s very minimal guys that come out of bullpens that are as good a pitcher and with the stuff he has manager Rocco Baldelli declared It s excellent stuff but we had excellent at-bats Hard not to like what you watched there in that inning Or what they watched in the th too when the Twins piled on Correa s home run preceded two-RBI hits each from Buxton and Larnach as the Twins kept being rewarded for their good at-bats All advised the Twins scored nine runs in the final two innings of the event using contributions from up and down the lineup to do so We put up a lot of runs but the way we did it late in innings two strikes a few homers various missiles specific just good hitting several using the opposite field there was a lot going on there Baldelli revealed I think that s got to be one of the greatest wins that we ve had to this point and one of the best wins that I can really remember in new memory Related Articles With concussion behind him Twins welcome back Byron Buxton Twins option Carson McCusker setting stage for bigger move Friday Twins drop finale to Rays have lost three of four Twins hitters limited to six singles in - loss to Tampa Bay Clemens homers again as Twins beat Rays