Twins hit three more home runs but lose 6-4 to Houston to open weekend series

Twins fans had waited since 2019 for the Houston Astros to visit Target Field and give the crowd a chance to voice disapproval for the sign-stealing scandal.

Despite booing, chants of "You're a cheater!" and even an inflatable toy trash can hurled onto the field, no divine retribution awaited the Astros, the team that also handed the Twins their most recent postseason disappointment, in the 2020 wild-card series.

The Twins did what they do best — hit a lot of home runs and not a lot else — and fell 6-4 to Houston in front of an announced Target Field crowd of 17,223. The Twins were hoping to harness emotions from Thursday's exciting (and rare) walk-off victory against the New York Yankees and continue a turnaround but instead fell to 25-38, 14 games back at the bottom of the American League Central.

Josh Donaldson and Nelson Cruz were the clutch hitters in Thursday's comeback, hitting home runs in the ninth inning to tie and then win the game. They continued that into Friday, with Cruz scoring the first run of the game off his first-inning homer to the bullpen. Miguel Sano then added his own bullpen shot in the second inning before Donaldson hit another homer in the third.

But then the Twins managed just one hit, Gilberto Celestino's first career double, in the ensuing four innings. Donaldson hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning to briefly tie the score, and Alex Kirilloff added a single. But Astros closer and former Twin Ryan Pressly retired all three Minnesota batters in the bottom of the ninth.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli attributed his team's offensive struggles in part to Houston starter Jose Urquidy, who pitched seven innings, allowing just four hits and those three home runs while striking out eight.

Houston outhit the Twins 11-6, saving much of its scoring — and home runs — until the later innings.

In his third major league start, the Twins' Bailey Ober allowed seven hits and two earned runs — Alex Bregman's sacrifice fly in the third inning and Jose Altuve's home run in the fifth — but also walked only one batter along with his seven strikeouts.

But that all came in just five innings and 73 pitches, as the recent Class AAA call-up is on a loose pitch count since he didn't play any games during the pandemic season.

BOXSCORE: Houston 6, Twins 4

"I'm looking forward to building up, keep building on longer starts," Ober said. "And hopefully, we'll get into the sixth and seventh inning and really put the pressure on these guys."

Ober only learned of his start Thursday night, after Baldelli made the move to pull struggling Matt Shoemaker from the rotation and put him in the bullpen. But his Twins debut as a reliever was reminiscent of many of his tough starts.

Houston's Yuli Gurriel homered off Jorge Alcala in the sixth inning to tie the score 3-3. Then Tyler Duffey struggled in the seventh, walking one batter and hitting another before putting them both into scoring position with a wild pitch. Houston took its first lead on an RBI groundout by Bregman.

Taylor Rogers entered for a three-pitch strikeout that ended the inning. But because the Twins were behind at the time, Baldelli opted not to bring Rogers back for the eighth. Instead, Shoemaker came in and pitched a one-two-three inning.

Success ended there. Shoemaker started the ninth and coughed up three hits and two runs to seal Houston's two-run victory. The Astros are now 36-27, just a half-game back from Oakland in the AL West.