Phillies fall to Twins 7-2 after Bryce Harper's early 2-run homer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Things started hot for the Philadelphia Phillies in Minnesota, but the Twins came back after a Bryce Harper two-run homer in the first to win 7-2 Monday night.
The Phillies have lost five of their last seven games after the latest loss in Minneapolis. They three-game series against the Twins continues Tuesday and Wednesday.
Minnesota starter Bailey Ober (9-5) threw only 83 pitches and retired 17 of his last 18 batters, getting a double-play grounder to erase the lone baserunner in that stretch. The 6-foot-9 right-hander gave up four hits and one walk and improved to 4-1 with a 2.23 ERA in his last six starts.
"He looked great," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "You could almost make an argument to just leave him in the game and let him keep throwing."
Cole Sands finished with two scoreless innings for the Twins, who held the Phillies to one hit in their last 27 at-bats.
Willi Castro had an RBI single in the third and Manny Margot hit the go-ahead two-run single in the fifth against Phillies starter Ranger Suárez (10-5), who lost his fourth straight decision and failed to finish the sixth inning for the third time in his last four starts. Despite Suárez's recent slide, the Twins were particularly proud of their production against the seventh-year left-hander.
"He's a phenomenal pitcher," Margot said through an interpreter. "The way he mixes his pitches is great."
Suárez, who gave up seven hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings, was one of eight Phillies selected as All-Stars. He didn't pitch in the game because of back spasms, however, and his ERA has risen from 1.36 to 2.87 over the last two months. The Phillies had him on an 85-pitch limit.
"Much better," manager Rob Thomson said. "The velocity was a little bit better than it was in his last couple starts. I thought he landed his breaking ball when he needed to behind in the count, and he put the breaking ball where he wanted to on his put-away pitches."
Carlos Santana added an RBI double in the seventh and Max Kepler hit an RBI single to spark a three-run eighth for the Twins (55-44), who stopped a three-game losing streak and moved within four games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. That's the closest they've been to the lead since May 17.
After the first pitch was delayed by 90 minutes due to a severe storm that soaked the downtown ballpark, Harper followed a single by Trea Turner with his hardest-hit ball of the season. The 424-foot homer that landed in the right-field gathering space was measured at 113.8 mph off the bat by MLB's Statcast data.
The eight-time All-Star and two-time NL MVP, who has 23 homers and 65 RBIs this year, played at Target Field for the first time in his 13 seasons to check the boxes on all 30 current major league ballparks.
The Twins lugged into the game an ominous 2-19 record against opponents with currently superior records: the Orioles, Guardians, Dodgers, Yankees and Brewers.
The only other club in that category is of course the baseball-best Phillies (63-37), who strutted into their first visit to Target Field in eight years with the best team ERA in the major leagues and a top-five placing in most hitting measures.
"It shows what type of team we have here," Ober said, "and that we can play with anyone."
"We're going through one of those times when we pitch we don't hit and when we hit we don't pitch," Thomson said. "That's part of this long season, and we'll come out of it."
ALMOST THERE
Twins third baseman Royce Lewis (strained groin) will start a rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday. Lewis has missed the last 14 games, but he's avoided another long-term absence — he missed 58 games earlier this season to a strained quadriceps — by immediately identifying and reporting the problem.
"Normally, that's something where I feel that tightness and I don't say anything," Lewis said before the game. "I think the goal, ultimately, is learning I don't have to be Superman."
UP NEXT
Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (10-4, 2.70 ERA) pitches on Tuesday night, and RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.51) takes the mound for the Twins in the middle game of the series.
