MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Mike Moustakas homered twice, Freddy Galvis hit a solo shot and the Cincinnati Reds clinched their first playoff spot since 2013, beating the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins 7-2 on Friday night.
The Twins (35-23) failed to secure home-field advantage for the wild-card series, when Cleveland rallied to beat Pittsburgh and forge a second-place tie with Chicago in the division race. Minnesota leads the White Sox and Indians by one game, with two to play.
Michael Lorenzen (2-2) pitched 3 1/3 innings for the victory, stranding runners on second and third in the third. Raisel Iglesias did the same in the eighth, and the Twins left 11 men on base.
Power hitting has been their ticket to this tournament, after giving both Nick Castellanos and Moustakas a four-year, $64 million contract, a franchise record. Eugenio Suarez leads the team with 15 homers. Until an RBI single by Castellanos in the fifth, the Reds had a streak of 19 straight runs scored via the long ball, including their entire series against the Brewers: 14 runs on seven homers.
After Philadelphia lost to Tampa Bay and Milwaukee split a doubleheader with St. Louis, the Reds (30-28) did their part by holding on for their 10th win in the last 12 games.
The Twins, who are 23-6 at Target Field, the best home record in baseball, can still settle anywhere from the second seed to the seventh seed for the AL playoffs next week.
The Twins would lose a tiebreaker to the White Sox, based on an inferior intradivision record, but they would win both a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Indians and a three-way tiebreaker with the other two competitors.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson departed after one inning due to a cramp in the calf muscle that kept him out for 30 games earlier this season. Then center fielder Byron Buxton was hit in the head in the eighth by a fastball from Lucas Sims, knocking him to the dirt and forcing him out.
“We’re still playing and hopeful to play to win the division as well. The health of our players is going to come first and foremost,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.
After pitching much better down the stretch of this abbreviated 60-game schedule than in the first half, this wasn’t the ideal postseason tuneup for Jose Berrios (5-4). The two-time All-Star finished five innings, with four runs allowed in his first two-homer start of the season.
“My fastball is there. I feel strong. My breaking ball is in good shape. Everything feels good for next week,” Berrios said.
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