(Photo credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images)
Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis and Ryan Jeffers homered as the Minnesota Twins rallied for a 5-3 victory against the host Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
The Twins won for the seventh time in their past nine games to move into a tie with the Cleveland Guardians for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot.
Cole Young went deep for the Mariners, who lost their third in a row and for the eighth time in their past 10.
Twins reliever Kody Funderburk (2-1) tossed 1 1/3 perfect innings, and Yoendrys Gomez worked around two walks in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.
Trailing 3-2, the Twins took their first lead in the seventh inning.
Lewis led off with a 419-foot blast to left-center field off Mariners reliever Jose A. Ferrer (4-2).
Alan Roden reached on an infield single as Ferrer was late covering on a grounder to first baseman Josh Naylor and then couldn’t find the bag. With one out, Luke Keaschall greeted reliever Eduard Bazardo with a run-scoring double to left, putting Minnesota ahead.
Jeffers led off the eighth with a homer to left off Bazardo, providing the final margin.
The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Randy Arozarena drew a one-out walk and Dominic Canzone doubled to right field. With two outs, Naylor walked to load the bases for Cal Raleigh, who hit a ground-rule double down the right field line off Twins starter Zebby Matthews.
Raleigh and Matthews both attended Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva, N.C.
The Twins tied it in the top of the second. Josh Bell lined a leadoff single, and two outs later, Lee went deep to right off Mariners starter Bryce Miller to make it 2-2.
Seattle regained the lead in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Young hit a liner just over the right field wall.
Neither starter factored into the decision after each having lost his previous three starts.
Matthews went five-plus innings and allowed three runs on four hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out a career-high 10.
Miller pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up two runs on three hits. The righty walked two and fanned three.
–Field Level Media