Zebby Matthews pitched six scoreless innings, Byron Buxton drove in the game’s lone run, and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 1-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Royce Lewis ripped a double for the only extra-base hit for the Twins, who won the series opener despite tallying only three hits. Buxton hit a sacrifice fly to produce the only run.
Daylen Lile went 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base to lead Washington.
Matthews (2-2) turned in his most impressive performance of the season. The Twins’ right-hander limited the Nationals to two hits, walked none and struck out seven.
Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore (4-10) absorbed a hard-luck loss in a season that has been filled with them. He gave up one run on one hit in five innings, but he struggled with command as he issued six walks and struck out four.
Twins relievers Danny Coulombe, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran combined for three scoreless innings to preserve the shutout. Duran pitched the ninth to collect his 16th save.
The Twins broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth.
Matt Wallner started the scoring opportunity when he drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Gore. Brooks Lee drew a walk in the next at-bat, and Wallner moved to third base on yet another wild pitch by Gore.
Buxton delivered with runners on first and third and one out. He hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Wallner and put the Twins on top 1-0.
Washington threatened to score in the eighth but could not push a run across.
Lile hit a one-out double and swiped third. Jacob Young drew a walk to give Washington runners on first and third with two outs for C.J. Abrams.
The Twins’ Jax escaped the jam when he got Abrams to fly out to right to end the inning.
–Field Level Media
