A Twins error set up the Astros to jump ahead right away in game three of the ALDS, while a bunch of walks gave Minnesota chance after chance to get on the scoreboard.
On a beautiful October day in downtown Minneapolis, it was the defending world champions who didn’t squander their chance, while the Twins kept coming up empty.
It was a story that recalls the inconsistencies of the first half of the regular season for the Twins, and put them in dire straits in hopes of advancing in the postseason.
The result is a 9-1 game-three win that gave the Astros a two games-to-one lead in the ALDS, moving them within a game of their seventh straight trip to the league championship series.
Alex Kirillloff tried to backhand a grounder by Yordan Alvaraez hit down the first base line with a runner on three batters into the game. Instead of snagging the ball, it skipped under Kirilloff’s glove and rolled into the rightfield corner, the error putting runners on second and third.
Kyle Tucker followed with a run-scoring single to left, and Jose Abreu lined a pitch from Sonny Gray into the second deck for a 4-0 Houston lead.
It was the first of two homers by Abreu.
The Twins came right back in the bottom of the first on a walk to Jorge Polanco and a double off the right-center wall by Max Kepler, but Houston starter Cristian Javier struck out both Royce Lewis and Carlos Correa to end the threat.
It also set the tone for Javier, who walked four batters and hit another in five innings, but got the Twins to go oh-for-five with runners in scoring position.
Four of those outs were strikeout, four of them on swings-and-misses and two by Lewis, who had become the Twins’ best clutch hitter in recent weeks.
Javier wound up with the win, running his career postseason record to 5-1.
While Correa has shined at shortstop so far this postseason for the Twins, the player who replaced him when he left Houston for free agency came up with the big play in the field.
With a run in and runners on the corner in the bottom of the sixth, Jeremy Pena made a diving stop on a hot grounder hit by Ryan Jeffers and started a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
Alvarez and Abreu both homered in the ninth for the Astros.
Abreu's two-run shot was his second of the game, giving him five RBI, and sending many of the 41,017 fans streaming toward the Target Field exits.
Alvarez number three hitter reached base all five times he came to the plate, including two doubles, a fielder's choice, and, of course, that first-inning two-base error by Kirilloff that set up Houston's dominating win.
The Twins, who managed only three hits on Tuesday, face their first elimination game of the 2023 postseason when they host the Astros for game four on Wednesday.
Joe Ryan, whose start was scratched in the wild card round when the Twins swept Toronto, goes to the mound in front of another sellout crowd at Target Field.
The Twins need to win game four to force the series back to Houston for a deciding game five on Friday.
If that happens, it’ll be a battle of aces.
Future Hall of Famer Jason Verlander would be the starter for the Astros against the Twins’ rising righthander Pablo Lopez.