Rodríguez sacrifice fly in 9th lifts Mariners over Twins 6-5 for 8th win in 11 games

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Julio Rodríguez drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning after Jhoan Duran hit a pair of batters with pitches, lifting the Seattle Mariners over the Minnesota Twins 6-5 on Tuesday night for their eighth win in 11 games.

Minnesota, which fell behind 5-0 before tying the score in the fourth, has lost five straight and 15 of 18.

Duran (4-3) hit Jorge Polanco with one out and pinch-runner Dylan Moore moved to third on Cole Young’s single. Duran hit J.P. Crawford, loading the bases, and Rodríguez followed with a drive to deep right field that brought home Moore and moved Young to third. The Twins intentionally walked big league home run leader Cal Raleigh to reload the bases, and Duran struck out Randy Arozarena.

Andrés Muñoz (3-0) pitched a perfect eighth. Matt Brash a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save since 2023.

Donovan Solano and Young had two hits apiece for the Mariners, who were hit by pitches three times.

Kody Clemens homered for the Twins and Ryan Jeffers hit a two-out, two-run double.

Seattle built a 5-0 lead in a third inning that included Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly, Raleigh’s RBI single, and Solano’s two-run single.

Key moment

Duran got ahead of Polanco 0-2, but he then hit Polanco on a foot with a knuckle curve.

Key stat

Paddack needed 36 pitches to get through a five-run third inning. He threw just 44 pitches total in his other four innings.

Up next

Twins RHP Joe Ryan (7-3, 3.06) will face Seattle RHP George Kirby (1-3, 6.16) on Wednesday night.

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