Berrios pitches seven strong innings as Twins beat Houston 5-2

Jose Berrios pitched seven strong innings and the Twins scored three runs in the fifth to beat Houston 5-2 on Saturday.

With the three-game series even at a game apiece, the Twins improved to 26-38, still far behind in the American League Central. Houston fell to 36-28, trailing only Oakland in the AL West.

"He had a great outing," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Berrios. "That's one of the best lineups in baseball. He attacked them. He got them out in the zone. You have to because they kind of force you to do that. You might get them to expand a little bit here and there, but you're going to have to beat them in the zone and he did that."

Miguel Sano drove in the Twins' first run in the fourth inning. Trevor Larnach hit a two-out, line-drive single to center, and Sano scored him with a double that ricocheted off the center field wall.

The Twins' big fifth inning began with a strikeout, but Nick Gordon was able to reach first on a passed ball. He then stole second base — his second steal of the night, making the rookie 5-for-5 this season — setting up Ben Rortvedt's RBI double to the center field warning track.

Jorge Polanco followed with a two-run homer off the second deck videoboards to put the Twins ahead 4-0.

"He combines kind of the best of both worlds," Baldelli said of Polanco, "in that he's got really good contact skills so he'll spray some balls all around the ballpark, doesn't swing and miss a ton but when he's really going well, he'll pick a pitch that he thinks he can do something with and turn on it and put a real jolt into it."

Berrios had allowed just three hits through six innings, striking out eight — though several of those called strikes were pretty far outside the zone. But in the seventh, the Astros cut the Twins' lead in half, hitting back-to-back home runs off Berrios. Kyle Tucker sent his to the bullpen before Robel Garcia hit his to right field.

Berrios left the game after that inning, allowing five hits and two runs with just one walk.

Said Baldelli: "Any time a guy kind of puts you on his shoulders and goes out there and kind of pitches like that, it's big and he's done that a good bit for us this year."

The Twins responded in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of reliever Brooks Raley. Andrelton Simmons hit a leadoff double to the left field corner and advanced to third on Rortvedt's groundout. Polanco scored him with his third hit of the night.

Nivaldo Rodriguez stepped in only to walk Nelson Cruz and hit Larnach with a pitch. But Sano lined out to end the bases-loaded threat.

The Twins again had a gifted opportunity in the bottom of the eighth to increase their lead. Rodriguez walked Alex Kirilloff to start and hit Simmons with a pitch to put runners on first and second. But Rortvedt lined out before anyone could score.

The announced crowd of 18,767 continued their heckling of the Astros, fallout from the 2019 sign-stealing scandal.

"This is something that I think is unfortunate. I don't think anyone, home or away, whether you're the Astros themselves or anyone playing them, no one wants to hear those kinds of things at the ballpark," Baldelli said before the game. "But you're certainly not going to be able to dictate what the fans are thinking and what they're going to do or say.

"All that being said, we're just here to play the game, and I mean that. Of course you hear everything that goes on. You hear almost everything."