Sano, Park go deep as Twins win 4th straight

 Miguel Sano and Byung Ho Park both homered, while every other Twins starter had at least one hit to extend Minnesota's win streak to four games with a rain-shortened, 7-4 victory over the Brewers on Monday night at Target Field. The game was officially called after six innings after a rain delay of two hours and six minutes.

Sano got the Twins on the board with a solo blast in the second off Brewers right-handerChase Anderson, who had yet to allow an earned run early this season. Kurt Suzuki added an RBI double in the second and another run scored in the third on a throwing error from Anderson. He later gave up a solo homer to Park in the fourth that gave Minnesota the lead after the Brewers tied it in the top of the inning. Byron Buxton also had an RBI triple in the fourth.

"It feels kind of funny you have to wait two hours until it's announced, but it's a win," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "So we have to keep it moving."

Right-hander Phil Hughes started for the Twins, registering his third straight quality start and his first win. He went six innings, surrendering four runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts. He was hurt by a throwing error from Brian Dozier on a potential double-play ball hit by Chris Carter in the fourth inning. He also had trouble against Ryan Braun, as Braun had an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the fifth.

Brewers reliever Blaine Boyer faced his former team in the sixth, allowing two runs on back-to-back RBI doubles from Dozier and Mauer. It was Mauer's 1,711th hit of his career, moving him into fifth on Minnesota's all-time hit list, passing Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew.

"We did a good job battling back, but they kept adding on," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Sano finally goes yard: Sano, who hit 18 homers in 80 games as a rookie last year, broke a streak of 46 plate appearances without a homer to open the season with a solo blast off Anderson in the first inning. Sano's homer left the bat at 112 mph and landed a projected 428 feet away from home, according to Statcast™ data.

"I don't want to call it a drought but it was an extended period for him," Molitor said. "It's in your brain each and every day. But like [hitting coach Tom] Brunansky gets preaching, just hit line drives. He's strong enough he can hit line drives out of the park. It didn't have a lot of height but he just squared it up."

No more zeros: Anderson entered the day as the second pitcher in Brewers history (with Earl Stephenson in 1972) to allow zero earned runs through his first two starts with the team, but his bid for a third straight goose egg ended with Sano's second-inning home run. It was the start of a tough night for Anderson, who allowed five runs (four earned) on 11 hits in five innings. More >

"I just didn't have any command from the get-go," he said. "I felt decent in my bullpen, and coming into the game I couldn't get everything synced up. When you can't locate the fastball, it's usually a long night for most starting pitchers."

Minnesota's offense breaks out: The Twins scored a combined 13 runs during their nine-game losing streak to open the season, but the offense has come around during their four-game win streak. It was evident on Monday, as they set a season-high with 14 hits. More >

Century mark: Braun followed Scooter Gennett's first-inning double with a run-scoring single, and Gennett's fifth-inning double with a run-scoring double, giving Braun 100 career RBIs in Interleague Play. That's a Brewers record, and tied with the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez for fifth-most in the Majors since 2007, when Braun broke into the big leagues.More >

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
When Buxton tripled in the fourth inning, he went from home to third base in 10.75 seconds, which was the fastest time to third on a triple recorded by Statcast™ this year. It's also the second-fastest dating back to Statcast™'s debut last season, as Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier set the record last May by tripling in 10.65 seconds. More >

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY
Monday marked the first rain-shortened game at Target Field, and Counsell credited crew chief Mike Everitt and the umpires for what he called a proper handling of the long delay. Twice after 11 p.m. local time, Counsell, Molitor and Everitt gathered on the field to discuss the situation before Everitt made his final call.

"The umpires were in a tough spot tonight," Counsell said. "They did a good job. They held off as long as they could. … They were trying to play, we wanted to play, but they decided in the end that the rain's not going to stop and they didn't want to send the players out there in this or worse."

WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers: After three poor starts, Wily Peralta will try again to get his season on track when he faces the Twins in Tuesday's 12:10 p.m. CT game. Peralta has the highest ERA (10.13) and WHIP (2.10) of any Major Leaguer who has logged at least 10 innings this season.

Twins: Right-hander Ervin Santana takes the mound for the Twins. Santana has been solid with a 3.00 ERA in three starts, but is still looking for his first win.