Matt Wallner went 2-for-3 with a home run as the Minnesota Twins held on for a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
Carlos Correa finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for Minnesota, which won its second straight game against the Cubs. Ryan Jeffers went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Right-hander David Festa (3-3) allowed two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner drove in one run apiece for Chicago, which dropped its third game in the last four. Cade Horton (3-3) surrendered four runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and fanned five.
Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless ninth to collect his 14th save. He needed only eight pitches, including five strikes, to get through the inning.
The Twins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch before he swiped second base and came around to score on Jeffers’ single to left. Correa followed with an RBI double to right.
Wallner led off the second with a solo shot to put the Twins on top 3-0. He pulled a 390-foot fly ball down the line in right for his ninth homer of the season and second in five games.
Chicago cut the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out for Swanson, who drove in the team’s first run with an RBI infield single. Hoerner followed with a fielder’s choice to pull the Cubs within one.
Minnesota used a delayed double steal to increase its lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Royce Lewis took a leadoff from third base as Wallner took a leadoff from first base. Wallner tried to steal second and was thrown out in a rundown between the bases, but Lewis took off from third and crossed the plate.
–Field Level Media
