Chicago — David Festa struck out a career-high nine batters over five innings and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 3-0 on Monday night.
Minnesota is now 3.5 games behind Cleveland for the AL Central, the closest the Twins have come to the top since before the May 18 game.
Festus (2-2), making his fifth major league start since his debut on June 27, threw 82 pitches while allowing two hits and two walks, one better than the 24-year-old right-hander’s previous best.
“It all comes down to execution,” Festa said. “I feel like in the first couple of games we didn’t execute the important pitches well enough. We had hitters up, but we made the important pitches, and that’s enough to make me happy.”
Festa stressed the importance of the batting order maintaining control in the second and third innings.
“He pitched great again in a packed stadium, with a lot of emotion going into it. He was able to slow the pace down really well,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He was really sharp. He missed a lot of batters today. He did a lot of different things well and held up really well at the end of the innings.”
Caleb Thielber, Jorge Alcala, Joan Duran and Griffin Jacks all finished with four hits each, and Jacks got three outs to earn his eighth save in 12 chances.
Royce Lewis hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning and Manuel Margot homered in the fifth off Kyle Hendricks (3-10), who gave up five hits in six innings. Ryan Jeffers grounded out to drive in a run-scoring double play in the ninth.
In the third inning, Matt Wallner hit a ball following a Lewis fly, but center fielder Pete “Crow” Armstrong missed it in the dim light. Right fielder Mike Tauchman was unable to react quickly enough, and the ball fell on the warning track. Trevor Larnach tried to score with a double from first base, but Crow Armstrong threw to shortstop Dansby Swanson, who relayed the ball with a one-hop to catcher Miguel Amaya in time for the tag.
Trainer Room
Twins: Left-handed pitcher Steven Auchter was placed on the death list Monday and right-handed pitcher Josh Winder was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul.
Cubs: Right fielder Seiya Suzuki sat out the game because of neck soreness, but manager Craig Counsell expects him to return to the lineup Tuesday. Cody Bellinger has been Chicago’s designated hitter since returning from a broken middle finger on his left hand last week, but Counsell said he’s still struggling to “pitch with intent.” Bellinger will not play defensively in the Cubs’ series against the Twins. … Right-hander Advert Alzolay is scheduled to have surgery on his right forearm on Tuesday.
next
Twins right-hander Pablo Lopez (10-7, 4.65 ERA) will start on Tuesday and look to win his third straight decision victory. Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga (8-2, 3.09 ERA) has lost three straight decisions since his July 10 win over Baltimore.
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