Brendan Rodgers went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and the Houston Astros held on for a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Christian Walker and Jeremy Pena each homered for Houston, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Victor Caratini finished 2-for-4 with a double.
Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach drove in one run apiece for Minnesota, which dropped its home opener. Byron Buxton went 2-for-4.
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown (1-1) limited the Twins to two runs on five hits in six innings. He walked none, struck out eight and threw 61 of 91 pitches for strikes.
Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (0-1) gave up four runs on five hits, including two homers, in five innings. He walked none and struck out six.
Astros relievers Bryan King, Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader combined to pitch three perfect innings. Hader pitched the ninth to collect his third save.
Minnesota opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first.
Matt Wallner hit a leadoff triple and scored moments later on Correa’s groundout to shortstop. Buxton followed with an infield single before stealing second base and sprinting home to score on Larnach’s single to left field.
The Astros pulled even at 2-all on back-to-back homers by Walker and Pena in the second inning. The blasts marked Walker’s first homer of the season and Pena’s second.
Rodgers delivered a two-out, two-run single in the fourth to put Houston on top 4-2. He drove the ball to center field to score Walker and Caratini.
In the sixth, Rodgers struck again to increase the Astros’ lead to 5-2. He belted a two-out double to left field to drive in Caratini, who had doubled in the previous at-bat.
The Twins went down quickly against Hader in the ninth. Buxton fouled out to the catcher, Larnach struck out swinging and Ty France ended the game when he fouled out to the first base side.
