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Back in the leadoff spot for a second consecutive day, Twins left fielder Joey Gallo hit another booming home run in a lopsided series-ending 16-3 victory over the Cubs at Target Field.
This one came in a seven-run third inning that told the story on an afternoon when the Twins scored double-digit runs in consecutive victories over the Cubs.
This one was a two-run homer short enough into the right-field plaza to be measured at 402 feet after Gallo hit one so deep into the right-center field second deck during Saturday’s 11-1 victory.
The 29 runs the Twins scored on the weekend is a Target Field record for the Twins for runs scored in a three-game series.
The Twins scored seven runs in Sunday’s eighth inning just for balance, maybe.
Gallo was top of the batting order Saturday for the first time in his nine-year career and was there again on Sunday.
The Twins hit five homers on Saturday, including Gallo’s that still hadn’t been accurately measured on Sunday.
“I don’t know where it landed, I couldn’t even tell,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Sunday about the Saturday homer. “I caught a glimpse of it. I couldn’t really see where that thing landed. Long, long way.”
The Twins hit just three homers on Sunday. Included was Trevor Larnach’s three-run home that started the seven-run third inning’s scoring and pinch hitter Michael A. Taylor’s two-run shot in the seven-run eighth inning.
Gallo’s two-run homer Sunday capped the Twins scoring in that third inning that started with Larnach’s home run with two out.
The Twins scored one run in the first and seven in the third inning for an 8-0 lead one day after they hit five home runs and clobbered the Cubs by 10 runs.
That gave Twins starting pitcher Louie Varland the cushion he needed on an afternoon when he allowed two runs — both solo home runs — in 6⅓ innings before reliever Emilio Pagán entered.
On Saturday, Alex Kirilloff homered in the team’s second at-bat on his way to a two homer, one ground-rule double afternoon.
This time, he scored the game’s first run again. He did so by singling and scoring on shortstop Carlos Correa’s double down the line into the left-field corner.
Jorge Polanco and Larnach both walked after that to load the bases with Correa at third, but third baseman Kyle Farmer flied out to left field to end the first inning with the bases loaded.
They scored seven more runs, all in that third inning.
Larnach hit a three-run homer that scored Correa and Byron Buxton ahead of him for a 4-0 lead.
Correa and Buxton both singled ahead of him, with Buxton’s single snapping an 0-for-26 slump.
Farmer then doubled and scored on centerfielder Nick Gordon’s double right behind him for a 5-0 lead. By then, Cubs manager David Ross had seen enough of his starting right-hander Marcus Stroman, who allowed six runs in 2⅔ innings. Cubs reliever Michael Rucker came on in relief.
After that, catcher Christian Vázquez’s single brought Gordon home, setting the stage for Gallo’s blast beyond the overhang and into the right-field plaza.
That was his team-leading ninth homer, this one on an 0-1 pitch.
And just like that, the Twins led 8-0. The Cubs could only counter with solo homers by centerfielder Christopher Morel in the fourth inning and rightfielder Seiya Suzuki in the seventh inning before the Cubs added a third run.
The Twins scored a run in the seventh for a 9-3 lead and Gallo had the chance to do more, but he grounded out to shortstop with two out and the bases loaded, then left the game because of an apparent leg injury.
They added seven more runs in the eighth for the final 13-run margin.
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