Gray sets career high strikeouts, Twins walk-off Astros in 10 innings

April 07, 2023 - 6:17pm | By James McCarty

The Minnesota Twins welcomed the Houston Astros to Target Field for the 2023 home opener this afternoon.

It was SONNY and in the mid 40s, a beautiful April day for Twins baseball in front of a sellout crowd of 34,465 baseball fans. Speaking of it being sunny, Sonny Gray was outstanding, setting a career high with 13 strikeouts in a 7 inning no decision performance. Gray only gave up one run on four hits in the outing.

The Astros began the scoring with an Alex Bregman RBI single in the top of the third inning giving Houston a 1-0 lead. The Twins would counter in the bottom of the sixth inning with Donovan Solano scoring on a wild pitch knotting the game at 1-1.

Gray was relieved for the day in the top of the eighth inning with Griffin Jax coming in and setting down the Astros 1-2-3 that included a strikeout. Jhoan Duran would pitch the ninth inning, walking one batter and striking out two batters on an 86 MPH curveball and 100 MPH fastball. Duran would keep the game tied at 1-1.

The game would head to extra innings. Keep in mind the MLB has adopted the rule of starting each extra inning with a runner on second base. The “ghost runner” is the last batter retired from the previous inning.

Jorge Lopez would come into the game for Minnesota giving up one run with the ghost runner scoring on a Mauricio Dubón RBI single, giving the Astros a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the ninth inning ghost runner Byron Buxton scored on a José Miranda RBI single tying the game back up at 2-2. The Twins would then load the bases. Kyle Farmer would come up to the plate and hit a walk-off RBI single, scoring Trevor Larnach. TWINS WIN 3-2.

The Twins and Astros will square off again tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. Joe Ryan is slated to be on the bump for Minnesota.