Luke Keaschall collected two hits and an RBI Sunday and the Minnesota Twins overcame the early exit of their ace starting pitcher to earn a 4-3 win over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays.
Minnesota saw Joe Ryan depart after just nine pitches and two hitters with what was termed right elbow soreness. Ryan fanned leadoff hitter Yohendrick Pinango and walked Kazuma Okamoto, then talked with manager Derek Shelton and a trainer before leaving the mound.
Rookie Andrew Morris (1-1) came out of the bullpen to toss 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk while fanning three. Four other relievers followed with Justin Topa surviving a rocky ninth for his second save.
Okamoto belted a two-run homer, his ninth of the year, with Myles Straw aboard with one out in the ninth. Vladimir Guerrero and Jesus Sanchez followed with singles to put the potential go-ahead runs aboard before Lenyn Sosa grounded into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Trey Yesavage (1-1) permitted five hits and a run in four innings with three walks and six strikeouts for Toronto. While Yesavage worked around traffic in his stint, the same couldn’t be said for Braydon Fisher during the bottom of the fifth.
After retiring the leadoff hitter, Fisher found trouble by walking Victor Caratini. Keaschall then rifled a double to the wall in left-center that scored Caratini from first. Kody Clemens followed with his own RBI double to make it 3-0.
One out later, Matt Wallner delivered a run-scoring double against Joe Mantiply that cashed in Clemens, giving the Twins a margin they lived off for the remainder of the game.
The Blue Jays got on the board in the sixth. Guerrero singled and advanced to third via Sanchez’s single. One out later, Daulton Varsho bunted for a hit that scored Guerrero but the rally died when Tyler Heineman stranded three on a flyout to left.
Caratini provided Minnesota with a 1-0 lead in the first inning, snapping a 1-for-18 skid with an RBI single to right.
