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Twins salvage road trip with win over Nationals

betsy helfand, pioneer press
·3 min read

WASHINGTON — The Twins got a good reminder of everything their star shortstop can do on Wednesday.

Carlos Correa’s home run loomed large in the Twins’ 3-2 win over the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, and his diving stop and strong throw with a runner on third was directly responsible for preserving their lead.

“We’re probably still playing or could be down if he didn’t play the way he did defensively,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s big-time stuff. He showed us a lot.”

The Twins (26-23) walked away from the nation’s capital with two straight wins, ending their road trip on a strong note after seeing their losing streak hit seven games on Monday night.

Correa, who also homered in Monday’s game, bashed a low first-pitch curveball from Bloomington native Jake Irvin in the top of the sixth inning out to left field. Irvin’s sinker, Correa said, was carving him up so he went up looking for a curveball instead.

It was one of two home runs that Irvin (2-5), a 27-year-old Bloomington Jefferson grad in his second full season, gave up against his hometown team — Max Kepler hit the other in the second inning — in an otherwise strong 6 1/3-inning start.

Irvin dueled against Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson, who did not allow a run in his outing. With a well-rested bullpen and an off day coming up, Woods Richardson was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning so southpaw Steven Okert could face lefty CJ Abrams.

Okert rode in on the Nationals’ baseball-shaped bullpen cart — a tradition he started on a cold day in Washington when he was playing for the Marlins — and made sure to tip his driver with a $5 bill he had been carrying all series for the occasion. He retired Abrams and then threw a flawless sixth inning to preserve the Twins’ lead.

But in the seventh, the Nationals (21-27) made some noise against rookie Kody Funderburk.

Funderburk allowed a pair of hits before striking out former Twin Joey Gallo with both runners in scoring position. Funderburk made way for Griffin Jax, who induced a groundout to Carlos Santana at first, allowing one run to score.

It looked like the game-tying run was going to score when Jacob Young sent a ball Correa’s way, but the 2021 Gold Glove Award winner made a diving stop, hopped to his feet quickly and fired a strong throw to Santana, who scooped the ball cleanly to get the speedy runner.

“I’m pretty determined to just do everything possible to finish the play,” Correa said. “I didn’t want the game to get tied at all and it was too hot to play extra innings.”

That kept the Twins’ lead 2-1, and it remained that way long enough for the Twins to tack on an insurance run — Kepler doubled and Ryan Jeffers snapped an 0-for-16 streak, driving him in — in the ninth inning.

It was an important one as Jhoan Duran gave up his third home run of the road trip before stranding a runner at second base to pick up the save and salvage the series.

“We’re playing with confidence. We’re playing with conviction. We’re taking quality ABs,” Woods Richardson said. “We’re putting the bat on the ball. We’re creating pressure. Our offense is creating pressure. We’re doing a lot of quality things for quality wins right now.”

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