Home field magic continues for Twins beating Cardinals

The Minnesota Twins got a two-out 8th inning solo homerun from Joe Mauer, and a 9th inning solo homerun from Kennys Vargas to snap a 1-1 tie and launch a 2-1 victory celebration at home plate as the Twins beat the Cardinals at Target Field for the second time in two days. The win gave the Twins a sweep of the brief two-game series after dropping both games against the Cardinals in St. Louis earlier in the week.  (photos by Bryan Singer)

TWINS NOTES:

1. THE TWINS recorded their second walk-off win of the season with a Kennys Vargas solo home run in the ninth inning…it was the first since Trevor Plouffe hit a walk-off homer in the 11th inning April 17 vs. Cleveland…they earned their fourth sweep this season, their second in Interleague play, and their first all-time against St. Louis…the Twins improved to 22-12 at Target Field this season, 14-8 in series finales, 6-11 in June and 5-4 against the National League…the Twins turned a double play in the second inning and have turned 11 in their last six games…in fact, they have at least one double play in 12 of their last 13 games…the Twins have not committed an error in seven straight games, the longest streak since July 6-18, 2014 (9 straight)…the win was the first for the Twins this season when trailing after seven innings (now 1-24).

2. MIKE PELFREY tied a season-high by going 8.0 innings, while allowing one run on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts…it marked the 14th time in 196 career starts Pelfrey has gone at least 8.0 innings…in six starts at Target Field this season, Pelfrey is 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA (38.1 IP, 6 ER)…the home run he allowed to Jason Heyward was the first he has allowed at home this season…after a Yadier Molina single in the second inning, Pelfrey retired 20 of the final 23 hitters he faced.

3. KENNYS VARGAS (2-for-4) had his first career walk-off…all four of his homers this season have come at Target Field, and three of the four have come off right-handers…earlier, he snapped an 0-for-15 with his fifth inning single…it was his 11th multi-hit game of the season…Vargas is hitting .333 (14-for-42) with three homers and five RBI in his last 13 home games.

4. JOE MAUER (1-for-4) hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the eighth, his third of the season, and all three have either tied the game or given the Twins the lead…it came off left-hander Kevin Siegrist and was just his third hit in his last 23 at-bats against left-handers…26 of Mauer’s 112 career home runs have been off left-handers…he has reached base safely in 34 of his last 35 Interleague games…he has hit .329 (219-for-666) in 179 career Interleague games.

5. BRIAN DOZIER has now reached base safely in 25 straight games after drawing a first inning walk…he came into play today with the longest active on-base streak in the AL and the third longest in baseball (Goldschmidt – 27, Votto – 26)…in that time, he is hitting .280 (26-for-93) with 18 extra-base hits and 12 RBI.

6. TORII HUNTER (1-for-3) singled in the eighth inning, his 1,277th hit in a Twins uniform, passing Gary Gaetti and moving into sole possession of eighth on the Twins all-time list.