Twins Outlast Oakland, Rox Blow Lead Against Duluth

The Minnesota Twins held on for a win in game two against Oakland on Saturday, while the St. Cloud Rox dropped the first matchup in a home-and-home series against Duluth.

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- The Twins outlasted Oakland to secure a 10-7 win in game two. Minnesota was hot at the plate, starting the opening inning with a two-run double from Kyle Farmer. In the top of the second, Carlos Correa extended Minnesota's lead to 4-0 with a two-run single. Michael Taylor gave the Twins a 6-0 lead in the third with a two-run home run, but this time the A's finally had an answer. Oakland got on the board in the bottom of the third to bring the score to 6-1. Minnesota's offense cooled in the fourth, while the A's heated up. Oakland tallied a solo home run and a two-run homer to cut Minnesota's lead to just two runs. The Twins pushed out to 7-4 with Willi Castro stealing home in the fifth, but by the end of the sixth inning, Oakland had tied it all up at 7-7. Farmer came through in the seventh with a go-ahead solo home run. The Twins added two more to seal the deal with a run scored by Ryan Jeffers on a Byron Buxton walk in the eighth and an RBI bunt from Jeffers in the ninth. Pablo Lopez struck out seven batters and allowed a season-high seven runs on eight hits through 5.2 innings on the mound for Minnesota. The bullpen combined for five strikeouts and two hits in the remainder of the game. The Twins improve to 47-46 and lead the A's (25-69) 2-0 in the series. The teams will play the third and final game on Sunday. Pre-game coverage starts at  2:00 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.

- The Rox blew a three-point lead to fall 5-3 to Duluth at home on Saturday. St. Cloud got on the board first with a run from Haiden Hunt off a sacrifice fly from John Nett in the first inning. The Rox extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second when Reese Ripken sent Anthony Mata and Carson Keithley home with a two-RBI single. The Huskies responded with a three-run single in the top of the third inning to tie the score at 3-3. St. Cloud did not have an answer, and in the sixth, the Huskies put it away with two more runs. Cade Lommel started things off on the mound for St. Cloud, striking out two batters and allowing three runs on two hits through five innings. Reliever Garret Mclaughlin struck out two batters and allowed two runs on two hits in the final four innings. The Rox fall to 33-12 and trail the Stingers by five games. The team will travel to Duluth Sunday to face the Huskies (24-21) in game two. Pre-game coverage begins at 2:35 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM KXSS.