Chicago Cubs at Minnesota Twins

· Major League Baseball

Chicago Cubs

54-37, 24-21 Away

Final
1 - 8

Minnesota Twins

44-47, 25-18 Home

Twins top Cubs 8-1 behind strong start from Simeon Woods Richardson and late power surge

Twins take first game of series with Cubs

Ryan Jeffers had three RBI and the first of three homers for the Twins in a six-run eighth off Porter Hodge, who was also taken deep by Willi Castro and Harrison Bader and got just one out.

Royce Lewis drove in two runs, and Byron Buxton and Jeffers greeted Imanaga (5-3) with back-to-back doubles to start a two-run first inning.

The left-hander, who was an All-Star as an MLB rookie last year, finished six innings for the first time since April 4 after missing nearly two months with a strained hamstring.

The Twins again shielded Woods Richardson (5-4) from the toughest matchups, turning to the bullpen for the third time through the heart of the order of Kyle Tucker, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch, who present as daunting a challenge in the second through fifth spots as there is in baseball.

The decision paid off, despite Woods Richardson throwing only 61 pitches, against the highest-scoring team in the major leagues. Brock Stewart struck out Dansby Swanson with runners at the corners to end the sixth.

Justin Turner's 200th career home run in the ninth ended the shutout.

Key moment Griffin Jax gave up a single and a walk with a two-run lead to start the eighth, before striking out Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong and retiring Busch on a line drive to right.

Key stat Woods Richardson, who spent nearly a month in Triple-A earlier this season, has allowed just 11 hits in 26 innings with a 1.38 ERA over his last five starts.

Up next RHP Cade Horton (3-2, 4.15 ERA) starts the middle game of the series on Wednesday for the Cubs, opposite Twins RHP David Festa (2-3, 5.48).

How can I watch Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota Twins?

TV Channel: Cubs at Twins 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Shaw grounded into double play, shortstop to second to first, Hoerner out at second.
	9th Inning	Hoerner singled to center.
	9th Inning	Turner homered to left (371 feet).
	9th Inning	Turner hit for Kelly
	9th Inning	Bruján struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Wentz relieved Jax

Statistics

CHC		MIN
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
6	Ground Balls	12
9	Strikeouts	3
1	Runs Batted In	8
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
6	Hits	12
0	Stolen Bases	1
5	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
1	Runs	8
2	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
31	At Bats	35
1	Home Runs	3
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
18	Runners Left On Base	8
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	3
16	Fly Balls	21
0	Caught Stealing	0
138	Pitches	130
0	Games Started	0
2	Pinch At Bats	0
1	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
9	Total Bases	24
36	Plate Appearances	37
162.0	Projected Home Runs	486.0
1	Extra Base Hits	6
2.4	Runs Created	8.4
.194	Batting Average	.343
.500	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.290	Slugging Percentage	.686
.258	Secondary Average	.400
.306	On Base Percentage	.351
.596	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	1.037
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.6
2.4	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	9.4
13.0	Batter Rating	60.0
31.0	At Bats Per Home Run	11.7
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.83	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.51
.097	Isolated Power	.343
0.56	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.33
.139	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.027
.065	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.057
2.0	Runs Produced	16.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.7
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.3
68.8	MLB Rating	105.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0