Twins salvage final game vs Brewers; send Santana to AAA and recall Vargas

The Twins snapped a two game losing streak behind eight innings of shutout pitching by Mike Pelfrey as they defeated the Brewers 2-0 at Target field on Sunday. After the game the Twins sent shortstop Danny Santana to AAA Rochester and called up Kennys Vargas. In 49 games for the Twins, Santana hit just .218 (39-for-179) with seven doubles and 11 RBI.

To replace Santana on the 25-man roster, the Twins will recall first baseman/designated hitter Kennys Vargas from Triple-A Rochester, in time for tomorrow night’s game with Kansas City. Vargas, who was optioned to Rochester on May 17, has played in 16 games for the Red Wings, hitting .308 (16-for-52) with two doubles, three home runs, eight RBI, 11 runs scored and nine walks.

Twins Notes:

THE TWINS have won 10 of their last 15, 19 of their last 29, and 24 of their last 35…they are 24-7 when they score first and 29-1 when leading after seven innings…the combined weekend attendance of 100,016 was the first three game series at Target Field over 100,000 fans since August 2-4, 2013, when the Twins drew 103,491 fans against Houston.

· MIKE PELFREY earned his fifth win of the year, tossing 8.0 shutout innings, allowing eight hits with one walk and seven strikeouts…this marked the third time in his career that Pelfrey went at least 8.0 innings not allowing a run, last done August 27, 2010 vs. Houston as a member of the Mets…in his last four starts, since May 20, he has allowed just three runs in 28.0 innings (0.96 ERA)…in fact, this is the only stretch of his career in which he has gone at least 6.0 innings, giving up one run-or-less in four straight starts…he also has quality starts in seven of his last nine games, a stretch in which he has a 1.89 ERA (57.0 IP, 12 ER).

· EDDIE ROSARIO (1-for-4, run) drove in the Twins first run with a second inning double…he has hit safely in 11 his last 12 games, batting .341 (15-for-44) in that span…Rosario has a hit in all 12 games he’s played at Target Field, hitting .372 (16-for-43) with five extra-base hits and seven RBI.

· EDUARDO ESCOBAR (1-for-3) hit an RBI-triple in the second inning, his first triple since August 3, 2014 at Chicago-AL…he has six triples in his 304 career games and five have come at Target Field.

· BRIAN DOZIER (1-for-3) reached base twice with a walk and a single, just the seventh single in his last 23 hits…he has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games, batting .317 (19-for-60) with eight doubles, four home runs, eight RBI and 16 runs scored.

· JOE MAUER (0-for-3) drew a fifth inning walk to extend his on-base streak in Interleague play to 31 games, the third longest streak in Twins history, as only Matt Lawton (37 – 6/5/99-7/12/01) and Justin Morneau (28 – 6/12/07-6/13/09) had longer…he later added a game-tying RBI single, Mauer is a career .335 (217-for-648) hitter in 174 career Interleague games.

· TORII HUNTER (1-for-3, walk, run) extended his Target Field hitting streak to eight games…he has hit safely in 17 of his last 19 home games, batting .303 (23-for-76) with 14 RBI in that span….Hunter has hits in 15 of his last 16 games overall, hitting .306 (19-for-62) with 15 RBI in that stretch.

· GLEN PERKINS recorded his 109th career save, passing Ron Davis and moving into sole possession of fourth on the all-time Twins list…his 21 consecutive saves mark the second longest save streak in a single season in club history, with Joe Nathan holding the all-time record, saving 27 straight May 8-August 15, 2004.