SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Minnesota Twins had a nice bounce-back win against the San Diego Padres, spurred by some big home runs and a big break.
All-Star Byron Buxton hit a tying homer in the fourth inning off Joe Musgrove, and Carlos Correa gave the AL Central leaders some breathing room with a two-run shot during a five-run eighth that helped them beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Saturday.
The Twins got a huge break in the seventh. With the Padres trailing 2-1 and rookie C.J. Abrams at second base on a one-out infield single and throwing error by Correa at shortstop, Jurickson Profar’s sharp grounder hit second base umpire Jerry Layne, rolled several feet away and was ruled a dead ball.
Abrams almost certainly would have scored had Profar’s ball gone through the infield, but he had to stay at second. Manny Machado struck out and Eric Hosmer popped up to end the inning.
“That was great. He was our player of the game today,” Correa joked about Layne. “He got smoked and he was hurting after. He was telling me how much it was hurting. It was good to get that break, so I made sure I thanked him.”
Correa then homered to straightaway center field with one out in the eighth off Adrian Morejon for a 4-1 lead. It was his 13th.
Minnesota added on with an RBI single by Jose Miranda, a run-scoring double by Nick Gordon and a throwing error by Abrams to make it 7-1.
“That’s a play that’s completely out of our control,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Did it end up being a meaningful play in the game? Yeah. He was obviously trying to get out of the way of the ball. Sometimes you can’t get out of the way of the ball. I’ve coached first base and I know that there are times you just have to wear it and the ball’s coming quick. I can understand the other side being frustrated, but…
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