Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins Match Player Stats On Aug 08, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Aug 9, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Twins hit five home runs to power their way to an 11-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario each hit two homers, and Brian Dozier had the biggest blast of the night, a go-ahead grand slam in the fourth inning.

Dozier also drove in a run later in the game to cap his season-high five-RBI night.

Minnesota's offense gave plenty of support to the bullpen, which had to put in extra work after starter Adalberto Mejia exited in the fourth inning with an injury. Mejia experienced left lateral upper arm pain, the Twins announced, and he left with nobody out in the inning.

Milwaukee starter Matt Garza's outing was abbreviated, too, though not due to injury. Garza was done after 3 1/3 innings after he let a lead slip away. The right-hander surrendered eight runs and eight hits, including four home runs. It was the shortest start of the year for Garza, who has reached seven innings just once this season.

The Brewers took an early 1-0 lead and led 4-2 in the top of the fourth inning before Minnesota's lineup came alive.

Rosario jumped on a 1-0 offering from Garza to cut the Brewers' lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth. Four batters later, Dozier delivered his first career grand slam -- his 138th career home run -- to put Minnesota on top. Dozier, normally a pull hitter, took Garza to the opposite field to give Minnesota a 7-4 lead.

Kepler kept the home run streak going. He followed Dozier's grand slam with a solo homer -- his second in as many innings.

The Twins entered with the second-fewest homers in the American League this year. Their five-homer output was just the third time this year they hit more than three homers in a game.

Kepler and Rosario became the first Twins teammates to each have multi-homer games since Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young did so in 2011.

The victory gave Minnesota a sweep of the two-game series at Target Field. The same two teams face off in Milwaukee beginning Wednesday for the start of another two-game matchup.

NOTES: Twins 3B Miguel Sano returned to the lineup after missing three games with a hand injury. Sano was hit on the hand with a pitch in Friday's game against Texas. He wore a padded batting glove in his first game back since the injury, and he went 1-for-5. ... 1B Joe Mauer moved into third place on the Twins' career hit list. Mauer's first-inning single, the 1,918th hit of his career, took him past Tony Oliva on that list. ... Brewers manager Craig Counsell said C Stephen Vogt continues to work his way back from a knee injury and is getting closer to taking swings again in the batter's box. Vogt strained his left MCL in mid-July and hasn't played since July 17. "We've got to be very careful with that," Counsell said.