Twins find fuel in back-to-back homers, defeat Blue Jays

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jun 8, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Christian Vázquez rocketed a 92-mph fastball from Toronto Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis in the fourth inning, and he held his bat out as he took his first seven steps out of the batter’s box. Once the ball landed in the second deck, a solo homer, he emphatically flipped his bat.

Call it a cathartic moment after the Minnesota Twins’ sluggish and sloppy start in Sunday’s series finale at Target Field.

Brooks Lee opened the fourth inning with a tying homer, lofting a fly-ball that carried just beyond the right-field wall. Vázquez, the next batter, blasted a no-doubt homer to put the Twins ahead in a 6-3 victory to avoid being swept in their three-game weekend series.

The Twins, who have a 9-10 record since their 13-game winning streak, made up for their early mistakes and ended a three-game losing streak despite leaving 13 runners on base. The Twins outhit the Blue Jays 12-4.

Joe Ryan labored through three walks and four hits in five innings, improving his record to 7-2. He allowed three runs (two earned) while striking out six.

There was a long list of miscues to start the game. With a runner on first base and two outs in the second inning, Alan Roden hit a flare into right field off Ryan. Matt Wallner didn’t get a great jump on the ball and made an ill-advised decision to dive for it. Wallner came up empty, the ball bouncing past him, which allowed Ernie Clements to score from first base.

Toronto scored two runs in the third inning after Carlos Correa committed his fifth error of the season, matching his total from last year. With a runner on first base, Correa made a sliding stop on a ground ball and flung a sidearm throw to second base that was well wide of the bag.

Alejandro Kirk and George Springer followed with successive run-scoring hits, both in two-strike counts. After Ryan struck out Nathan Lukes, he started walking off the mound before he realized it was only the second out of the inning.

The Twins trailed by a run in the bottom of the third inning, when Willi Castro and Ty France supplied a pair of two-out singles. With Lee in the batter’s box, France was picked off first base by Kirk, the Blue Jays’ catcher.

Lee opened the next inning with a solo homer off Francis, who leads the American League with eight losses. Vázquez followed with his majestic blast, on a seven-pitch at-bat on which he saw six fastballs. It was the Twins’ second set of back-to-back homers this season after DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Byron Buxton accomplished the feat May 15 in Baltimore.

It was all Twins once they regained the lead. The Blue Jays recorded only one hit after the third inning, and one of Ryan’s walks was erased on a slick double play by Correa where he shoved the ball to second base with his glove.

In the fifth inning, after the Blue Jays inserted righty reliever Erik Swanson with two runners on base, France bashed an RBI double off the right-field wall. Swanson walked two more batters in the inning, including Buxton with the bases loaded. Buxton drew three walks, the highest single-game total of his career.

The Twins didn’t score after loading the bases with one out in the sixth inning — Correa was thrown out at the plate by center fielder Myles Straw on a flyout — but the Twins bullpen permitted one hit over four innings.

____