The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS–Carlos Correa stood slack-jawed in the dugout as George Springer rounded the bases a second time yesterday.
Correa was unable to comprehend the force Springer must have needed to send the second-longest homer in the majors this season into the concourse above the second deck at spacious Target Field.
The Minnesota Twins were just as stunned by the power the Astros unleashed throughout the series.
Springer reached base in all six plate appearances, and hit two of Houston’s season-high six home runs, to lead the Astros to a 17-6 romp for their seventh-straight win.
“I was in shock,” Correa said of Springer’s second homer–a 473-foot moon shot that trails only a 481-footer from Arizona’s Jake Lamb this season.
“I’ve never seen a ball hit that hard before live in my life.
“It was not really where it landed, it was just the way it sounded the way it came off the bat,” he noted.
“It just skyrocketed off the bat. ”
Correa, Alex Bregman, Evan Gattis, and Marwin Gonzalez also went deep for the Astros, who scored 40 runs in the three-game sweep of the Twins to set a franchise record.
They had 19 hits yesterday and 37 in the series.
Brian Dozier, Eddie Rosario, and Jason Castro homered for the Twins, who now have lost four-straight.
Hector Santiago (4-5) gave up six runs on eight hits and walked three in six innings, three days after he was an emergency fill-in during the 15th inning of a loss to Tampa Bay.
“We got embarrassed in a few ways this series,” Dozier said.
Springer hit a solo shot in the fifth, then his blast in the seventh started a six-run eruption that put the game out of reach.
“That’s all I got. That’s about all I can hit it,” said Springer, who has 13 homers this season after his fifth career multi-homer game.
“I’m just happy to help us there,” he added. “They had just scored three so I’ll take it.”
Gattis had four hits and three RBIs while Correa added three hits and three RBIs for the Astros (38-22).
The Twins put three runs on the board in the sixth on homers by Rosario and Castro to pull within 6-5, but the bullpen fallen faltered badly once again.
“I think we’re in a good position right now, but I’m not going to get comfortable,” Correa stressed.
“We’re going have to try for more,” he noted. “We’re going to try to be 30 games over .500 if we can.”
Highly-touted Astros’ prospect David Paulino gave up two hits on five runs while struck out eight in four innings of a wild major-league debut.
The 23-year-old was electric in his first three innings, striking out the side in the second.
He had three wild pitches in the fourth, but still was able to strike out Castro with two on base to keep the inning from getting away from him.
Michael Feliz (2-0) got the win while left-hander Reymin Guduan also made his big-league debut, allowing one run on two hits in two innings.
Meanwhile, Minnesota’s bullpen allowed 27 earned runs in nine innings over the series.
Ryan Pressly lasted two batters while the normally-reliable Tyler Duffey gave up four runs on four hits without getting an out in the seventh.
Position player Chris Gimenez made his third appearance of the season as a reliever in the ninth inning.
After the game, Pressly was sent to ‘AAA’ Rochester while Jason Wheeler was designated for assignment.
Twins’ manager Paul Molitor met with top executive Derek Falvey for about 30 minutes discussing their dwindling options.
“We’ll add a couple fresh guys tomorrow [Thursday] that will be on the periphery of giving us some, hopefully, protection,” Molitor said.
“It’s constantly evolving for how these guys are going to pitch and when,” he noted.
“Just trying to figure out how to finish games off when we have a chance to win.”
Elsewhere in the AL, Baltimore dumped New York 10-4, Boston downed Chicago 4-1, Tampa Bay topped Texas 7-5 (10 innings), Detroit edged Kansas City 6-5, and Oakland beat Cleveland 3-1.
Over in the NL, Arizona topped Pittsburgh 6-5 (14 innings), Miami pounded Philadelphia 10-2, San Diego nipped Chicago 2-1, Milwaukee dumped New York 7-1, St. Louis shaded L.A. 2-1, and Washington beat San Francisco 3-1.
