Field Level Media
Apr 28, 2018
Jose Peraza belted two home runs and Joey Votto homered for the fourth straight game and reached base all six times he came to plate as the visiting Cincinnati Reds exploded for 20 hits -- eight of them in a six-run fifth inning -- in sending the reeling Minnesota Twins to their eighth straight loss, 15-9, on Friday night.
It was the Twins' first game in Minnesota since April 12, because an entire weekend series with the White Sox was canceled due to rain and snow, and they were listed as the home team for a pair of games in Puerto Rico on April 17-18.
Peraza and Eugenio finished with four hits, right fielder Scott Schebler had two hits and three RBIs, and Votto and Scooter Gennett had three hits apiece.
All nine of the players in the Reds' lineup had at least one RBI.
The light-hitting Peraza began the night with a burst of uncharacteristic power. With one out, he ripped the first pitch thrown to him by Phil Hughes into the second deck in left for his first home run of the season.
The Twins immediately jumped on Reds' starter Luis Castillo, who gave up five runs and needed 41 pitches to finally get through the inning.
Big hits in the inning were a run-scoring double from Eddie Rosario and a two-run homer from Logan Morrison, who began the night hitting .113. Morrison, the designated hitter, had two of the Twins' 14 hits and drove in three runs.
Castillo, who was pulled after giving up a double and a walk to open the second inning, entered the night with a 1-4 record and a 6.51 ERA, and ended it with an ERA of 7.85. He allowed five runs on six hits and two walks.
The teams each scored two runs in the third and one run in the fourth, with Hughes unable to survive the fourth inning. He allowed four runs on five hits with two walks, while striking out three.
The Twins still led 8-3 going to the top of the fifth, when Votto, who didn't have a home run until this streak began, turned on a fastball and launched it over the right field wall off reliever Tyler Duffey (0-1). It began an offensive barrage that included an RBI triple from Billy Hamilton and didn't end until the Reds had sent 12 batters to the plate and led 10-8.
Duffey gave up five runs -- four earned -- on four hits.
The Reds added a run in the seventh and four more in the ninth, led off by Peraza's second homer of the game and an RBI double from Adam Duvall.
Rosario led off the Twins ninth inning with home run, his third of the season, off Reds closer Raisel Iglesias.
Max Kepler and Robbie Grossman had three hits apiece for the Twins, and Morrison, Rosario and Brian Dozier had two each. Rosario also drove in two runs.
David Hernandez (1-0) picked up the win in his Reds' debut, entering in the fourth inning after the Twins had scored three more runs off Kevin Shackelford, who followed Castillo to the mound.
Hernandez gave up a hit and a walk with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. The right-hander was on the disabled list until Friday with inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
--Field Level Media