SEATTLE – Pablo López spun around and clapped once into his glove after he ended the sixth inning with a called third strike.
In López’s roller coaster of a season, which he described as one step forward and two or three steps back, there was finally some semblance of consistency. After pitching eight scoreless innings in Oakland last weekend, López delivered another quality start to lead the Twins to a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.
Byron Buxton carried the offense with a three-run homer in the sixth inning and an RBI double in the fourth inning.
Pitching at T-Mobile Park for the first time since the ninth inning of last year’s All-Star Game, López looked like the guy who emerged as the ace of the staff last season. He gave up four hits and one run in six innings while striking out nine.
López changed his sweat-filled uniform after giving up a homer in the third inning, and he looked unhittable afterward. He retired his final 10 batters while striking out seven of them. There was only one ball that left the infield after the third inning.
Combined with López’s start in Oakland, he has struck out 23 of his past 49 batters.
The last three innings were an impressive turnaround for López, who threw 66 pitches in his first three innings. He stranded a runner at third base in the first inning by striking out Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver with sliders.
López surrendered a homer to Mitch Haniger to begin the third inning, a hanging curveball he left over the heart of the plate, which ended his 10-inning scoreless streak. Josh Rojas followed with a single and López issued a two-out walk before he struck out Garver with another slider.
It was the first time López completed at least six innings in back-to-back starts since mid-May.
Buxton, given the day off Friday after playing three games in center field on turf, remained red-hot on the road trip. Carlos Correa and Carlos Santana opened the sixth inning with back-to-back singles, aided by a defensive mistake. Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford made a diving stop on Santana’s ground ball, but he flipped the ball to second base and there was nobody covering the bag.
With two outs and two runners on base, Buxton belted an elevated fastball over the left-field fence in a two-strike count. On the road trip, Buxton has compiled 11 hits —four doubles and four homers — eight runs and 12 RBI in six games.
The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning after Santana ripped a leadoff double down the right-field line. After Seattle starter Bryce Miller retired the next two batters, Buxton lined an elevated sinker to the wall in left field for an RBI double, past diving left fielder Luke Raley as the ball tailed toward the left-field line.
Buxton is batting .364 over his last 17 games.
In the second inning, Max Kepler lasered a one-out double into the right-center gap, the ball rocketing off his bat at 110 mph for the hardest-hit ball of the game. Jose Miranda, on his 26th birthday, followed with a seven-pitch at-bat that ended with an RBI single to center. Miranda has totaled 12 RBI in his last eight games.