Kazuma Okamoto hit two homers and drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays pulled away for a 7-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Yohendrick Pinango finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs for Toronto, which evened the series at one win apiece. Lenyn Sosa went 3-for-4 with a double.
Byron Buxton went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer to lead Minnesota. Ryan Jeffers tallied the other RBI for the Twins.
Blue Jays left-hander Patrick Corbin (1-0) allowed two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (0-5) gave up six runs (four earned) on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and fanned two.
The Blue Jays started the scoring in the second inning.
Daulton Varsho and Sosa hit back-to-back singles with one out, and they advanced on a wild pitch by Woods Richardson. Pinango hit a ground ball moments later, and Twins first baseman Josh Bell fired an errant throw past home plate that allowed the Blue Jays to take a 2-0 lead.
The Twins pulled even at 2-all in the third.
Brooks Lee led off the inning with a single, and Buxton followed two batters later with a home run just past the wall in left field. The shot was Buxton’s fourth home run in the past five games and his ninth of the season.
Toronto quickly responded to grab a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
Okamoto put the Blue Jays on top with a leadoff homer to left. Sosa hit a one-out double and scored the second run of the inning on Pinango’s single to center.
In the fifth, Okamoto struck again, this time with a two-run homer that increased the Blue Jays’ lead to 6-2. The blast gave the 29-year-old rookie from Japan his first career multi-homer game and seven long balls on the season.
Pinango hit another RBI single in the seventh to put Toronto ahead 7-2.
Jeffers pulled the Twins within 7-3 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.
