Byron Buxton hit a three-run home run, Taj Bradley pitched six strong innings and the Minnesota Twins beat the host Washington Nationals 11-3 on Tuesday.
Brooks Lee had three hits and drove in three runs for the Twins, who have won back-to-back games for the first time since a four-game run April 11-14.
Bradley (4-1) allowed two runs on four hits. He struck out eight and walked two.
Curtis Mead and Jose Tena each had two hits for Washington, which fell to 4-13 at home.
Cade Cavalli (1-2) allowed six runs (three earned) on five hits over four innings.
Daylen Lile walked with one out in the first and Mead doubled him to third. CJ Abrams then hit a slow roller with the infield in, and Lile beat the throw home from second baseman Luke Keaschall.
Cavalli had retired the first five batters but hit Kody Clemens with a pitch in the second before Keaschall singled. Lee followed with a double into the right field corner and both runners scored to make it 2-1.
The Twins broke it open in the fourth. A single and two walks loaded the bases with no outs. Cavalli bobbled Lee’s slow roller and everyone was safe. Royce Lewis hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1 Minnesota. With two outs, Trevor Larnach lined a double to center to score two more runs.
Lile doubled with two outs in the fifth and scored on a single by Mead to make it 6-2.
Ryan Jeffers doubled leading off the top of the seventh and scored on a single by Josh Bell.
Washington answered as Tena doubled leading off the bottom half and James Wood drove him in with a double off the top of the wall in left-center.
Lee led off the eighth with an infield single and Lewis was hit by a pitch. Buxton followed with a long fly to left to make it 10-3. It was Buxton’s first hit of the season with a runner in scoring position.
Lee doubled home Clemens in the ninth to make it 11-3.
–Field Level Media
