Twins mop up Mariners again; Eddy Julien is baseball's hottest hitter
The Twins won their 50th game of the season Wednesday night – a 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners – and rookie Eddy Julien continued his July tear as baseball's hottest hitter.
Julien went 2-for-2 with a homer, single and two walks. Julien has been baseball's best hitter in July, slashing .531/.615/.1.094 with five homers, three doubles, four walks, seven RBIs and 10 runs scored. His July batting average (.531) and OPS (1.709) are the best in the majors.
Max Kepler also stayed hot with two hits including his 14th homer of the season. It came just one at-bat after Julien went deep in the fifth inning.
The Twins got a masterful pitching performance from Kenta Maeda. The veteran right-hander had allowed just two hits and one run while striking out nine batters through six innings.
But after giving up a single with one out in the seventh, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pulled Maeda, who had thrown only 80 pitches, and replaced him with Griffin Jax. Jax immediately got ahead of Eugenio Suarez 1-2 before Suarez unloaded with a two-run homer to tie the game 3-3.
The Twins reclaimed the lead in the eighth inning as Max Kepler scored from third base on a wild pitch by Seattle right-hander Andres Munoz.
In the ninth, Alex Kirilloff, who had struck out swinging his first four at-bats of the night, took Devin Sweet deep to the opposite field for a two-run homer and a 6-3 Twins lead. Kirilloff has homered in three of the last four games.
Sweet was making his MLB debut, having been called up from Double-A.
Note: Byron Buxton was kept out of the lineup for a second night in a row.
Up next: Twins at Mariners, Thursday at 2:40 p.m. CT.
