Down early, Twins rally for 8-3 win over the Marlins

MINNEAPOLIS — Simeon Woods Richardson hit a wall in his last start of the season, but the Twins’ offense finally busted through its own wall.

The Twins, gifted four errors from the Miami Marlins infield, rallied from an early three-run deficit to keep their slim playoff hopes alive in an 8-3 victory Wednesday at Target Field. After failing to score more than four runs over their previous eight games, the Twins pulled ahead with a five-run seventh inning.

Snapping a three-game losing streak, the Twins remain playoff long shots. They sit two games back in the wild-card race with four games left after Kansas City and Detroit won Wednesday.

With the score tied in the seventh inning, Brooks Lee snapped a 0-for-15 slump with a leadoff double to the right field wall. Christian Vázquez followed with a sacrifice bunt in a two-strike count, and the Twins’ small-ball play was rewarded when Marlins reliever Declan Cronin airmailed his throw to first base, the ball flying into foul territory as pinch runner Manuel Margot scored the go-ahead run.

Carlos Correa, who made a massive baserunning mistake in the fifth inning, delivered an RBI double to continue the rally, punching the air when he stopped at second base. After two more walks, Carlos Santana hit a bases-clearing, three-run double to right field.

It was just the fourth time the Twins have scored more than four runs in their last 21 games. Six Twins relievers combined to pitch eight scoreless innings, setting up the come-from-behind win.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fifth inning after back-to-back errors from the Marlins defense and a single from Trevor Larnach. With the score tied, manager Rocco Baldelli signaled the importance of the situation when he inserted Austin Martin for Edouard Julien as the lead runner.

Correa’s baserunning blunder wiped away a potential lead. Royce Lewis lined a first-pitch fastball to left field where Griffin Conine made a diving catch after running forward five steps. Correa, the runner at second, thought the ball would drop and took several steps toward third base. Before Martin crossed home plate, where he should’ve easily scored when he tagged on the catch, Correa was thrown out at second base to end the inning.

Correa patted his chest and said “my bad” toward the dugout between innings.

The Twins were fortunate they trailed by only three runs to start the game after Woods Richardson and Louie Varland stranded six runners over the first three innings.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third inning, Larnach laced a first-pitch changeup from Marlins starter Edward Cabrera to center field for a two-run single.

In the fourth inning, Byron Buxton hit a leadoff solo homer to the second deck in left field, clobbering a first-pitch fastball. Buxton’s 18th home run of the season snapped the team’s 63-inning homerless drought, a streak that spanned more than six games.

Five batters reached base against Woods Richardson before he recorded his first out. Jake Burger hit a three-run homer on his 11th pitch, driving a changeup that floated over the middle of the plate past the left field wall.

Woods Richardson, who averaged 93.1 mph with his fastball this year, threw only four fastballs above 91 mph. He was pulled after seven of the 10 batters he faced reached base. Providing stability in the rotation for much of the summer, Woods Richardson didn’t complete five innings in any of his last six starts.

The Twins bullpen yielded five hits and zero walks over eight innings while striking out 14.

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