Farmer leads Twins offense in 10-7 win over Athletics
Kyle Farmer had three hits including a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, and the Minnesota Twins held off the Oakland Athletics 10-7 on Saturday night.
Michael A. Taylor hit his 11th home run for the Twins and made a catch at the wall in center field to rob pinch-hitter Brent Rooker of extra bases in the sixth.
Ryan Jeffers walked twice, scored three runs and drove in one for Minnesota, which has won two straight after losing three consecutive games before the All-Star break. Minnesota (47-46) leads the Central Division, the only team in the division with a winning record.
"When you see the number of different innings where we put runs on the board, and you look at the scoreboard, you say that's a job well done by the offense," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "It wasn't an easy game for us to get through for a lot of reasons. But we stayed in it, and by the seventh inning we tacked another run on, then another run on. I was really pleased with the at-bats one through nine and all nine innings."
Ryan Noda and Seth Brown homered for Oakland. The last-place A's (25-69) have lost six straight and are on pace for 119 losses, which would be the most in baseball since the 2003 Detroit Tigers finished 43-119.
The game drew a crowd of 10,534, the 26th time in 45 games at the Coliseum this season that the attendance has been below 11,000.
"Offensively there were a lot of good signs today," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "Any time you can put up seven runs in a game, especially against that type of starter, generally you have a good chance to win."
Farmer had an RBI double in the first and singled leading off the third. After grounding into a double play in the fifth, Farmer crushed a two-out, 3-2 slider from Freddy Tarnok (0-1) into the left field stands.
"Just sticking with my approach of staying on the fastball," Farmer said. "I just adjust to the breaking ball after that, and that's what happened tonight. Made a good adjustment on it. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't."
Jovani Moran (2-2) retired two batters to win. Jhoan Duran struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth for his 14th save.
Minnesota got another big day from Carlos Correa, who has hit in 11 consecutive games since moving into the leadoff spot June 30.
One of the most coveted free agents this past offseason, Correa had three hits and two RBIs. The Twins' No. 2 hitter most of the season, Correa is batting .355 (16 for 44) since moving to the leadoff spot.
That was big on a day when Twins All-Star pitcher Pablo López struggled through an uneven start. López, who pitched a scoreless inning for the American League in Tuesday's All-Star game, had seven strikeouts but walked three and allowed seven hits and seven runs in 5 2/3 innings.
The Twins led 4-0 and 6-1 but allowed the A's to come back both times.
Oakland scored three times in the fourth when Noda and Brown connected, twice in the fifth — one coming in on a wild pitch by López — then added the tying run in the sixth on Nick Allen's sacrifice fly. The A's got the go-ahead run to third later in the frame before Taylor's catch at the wall ended the inning.
"Michael's incredible out there," Farmer said. "There's really never a doubt when a ball's hit out there to him. We're lucky to have him in center field."
GOING YOUNG
A's rookie catcher Tyler Soderstrom, son of former major league pitcher Steve Soderstrom, made his first start behind the plate, making him the second-youngest starting catcher in Oakland history at 21 years and 233 days. Scott Meyer, who made his only career start at Chicago on Sept. 26, 1978, is the youngest at 21 years and 38 days.
ROSTER MOVES
Twins: 3B José Miranda was put on the 10-day injured list because of a right shoulder impingement, and top prospect Matt Wallner was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul.
Miranda is hitting .211 with four doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs. The IL move was retroactive to Wednesday.
Wallner, an outfielder, is in his third stint this season with the Twins after hitting .368 with one home run and four RBIs in 11 games.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Athletics: CF Esteury Ruiz has begun a swinging progression with some cuts off the tee in the indoor batting cage to test his dislocated right shoulder. ... C Carlos Pérez, recovering from a broken left thumb, is scheduled to be evaluated again by a doctor next week to determine his progress. ... C Manny Piña isn't ready for baseball activities as he heals from a bruised left wrist. He was placed on the 10-day injured list Friday, a move retroactive to July 11.
UP NEXT
Twins RHP Joe Ryan (8-6, 3.70 ERA), who grew up 30 miles from the Coliseum, starts the series finale on Sunday in his first career appearance against Oakland. LHP JP Sears (1-6, 3.97) gets the nod for the Athletics and will make his team-leading 19th start of the season.