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Twins snap skid, slow Seattle’s Wild Card chase
- Updated: September 25, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS — Other than a prodigious blast by Nelson Cruz, right-hander Tyler Duffey shut down the Mariners for seven innings Saturday as the Twins snapped a seven-game losing streak and dented Seattle’s Wild Card pursuits with a 3-2 victory at Target Field.
Duffey held the Mariners to four hits and two runs, both coming on a Cruz blast projected at 493 feet by Statcast™, the second-longest in the Majors this year. Duffey (9-11, 6.18 ERA) had been 0-3 with an 11.15 ERA his previous four starts, but he shut down the Mariners and helped stave off the Twins’ 100th loss of the season as they improved to 56-99.
Seattle saw its seven-game road win streak end and fell to 81-73, two games back of Detroit and Baltimore for the second American League Wild Card spot with eight games remaining.
The Mariners had runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the ninth after a single by Robinson Cano and an error on Twins third baseman Miguel Sano. But Sano made a leaping stop of a high chopper by Kyle Seager and turned that into a double play before Brandon Kintzler got Adam Lind to pop out for the final out in a game that lasted just two hours, six minutes.
Mariners lefty Ariel Miranda was pulled after just four innings and 52 pitches after giving up three runs on three hits, including solo blasts by Jorge Polanco and Sano. Miranda came into the game with a chance to become just the 14th rookie since 1913 to go 5-0 in September, but he departed with a 3-2 deficit. The 27-year-old is now 5-2 with a 4.10 ERA since being acquired from the Orioles on July 31.
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