Lewis Bomb, Seventh-Inning Surge Sink Angels 5-3
Royce Lewis crushed a 419-foot home run to left center in the second inning, and Minnesota never relinquished the lead for good, beating Los Angeles 5-3 on Saturday. The Angels clawed back twice but couldn't survive a three-run seventh that put the game away.
Minnesota came out swinging in the second. Lewis's two-run shot — 419 feet to left center — plated Clemens and staked the Twins to a 2-0 lead. Keaschall followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Caratini, and just like that it was 3-0 before the Angels had done much of anything. Joe Ryan was doing his part on the mound, and the night looked like it could get lopsided fast.
Los Angeles answered in the third. Soler doubled to left, scoring both Neto and Trout to cut it to 3-2, and the Angels suddenly had life. Ryan Johnson had already been knocked around for 3 earned runs over 5 innings, but the offense gave the bullpen something to work with. The game stayed that way — tense, one run separating the teams — until the seventh, when everything broke open again.
The story of the night was that seventh inning, and it swung both ways before Minnesota slammed the door. Schanuel singled to left to score Neto, tying the game at 3-3 and pulling the Twins' win probability all the way down from 75% to 59% — a 17-point swing that made this feel like a genuine contest. But Minnesota answered immediately. Caratini doubled to left to score Lewis and put the Twins back in front at 4-3, then Roden singled to right to score Caratini and make it 5-3. Three runs, three hits, game over in the span of a few minutes. Mitch Farris, who had come on in relief for the Angels, allowed 6 hits and 2 earned runs over 2 innings — that seventh was brutal for Los Angeles's bullpen. Ryan finished with a solid line: 6.0 innings, 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. He gave his team exactly what it needed. On the Angels' side, Neto and Trout each went 2-for-5 and scored runs, and Schanuel's 2-for-4 night with an RBI looks like the kind of performance that matters more in a loss than a win. Minnesota's ability to respond the moment Los Angeles tied it appears to be the difference — the Twins didn't flinch, and the Angels had no answer for it.