Josh Bell went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs, and the visiting Minnesota Twins outlasted the Milwaukee Brewers for an 8-6 win on Friday night.
Kaelen Culpepper hit a solo home run in his big-league debut for Minnesota, which won the opener of a three-game series. Royce Lewis went 2-for-5 with an RBI double, and he, Bell and Ryan Jeffers scored twice apiece.
Brice Turang went 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double for Milwaukee. Jackson Chourio added a solo home run.
Twins right-hander Zebby Matthews (5-8) got the win despite allowing six runs (three earned) on seven hits in five innings.
Brewers right-hander Antonio Senzatela (9-3) allowed two runs on three hits in one inning of relief.
In his second appearance since being acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline, right-handed reliever Jeff Hoffman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh by striking out Luis Lara looking to preserve the 8-6 lead. Right-hander Yoendrys Gomez pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 16th save.
The Brewers jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first two innings.
Chourio started the scoring with a solo blast to center in the first. The 423-foot shot marked his 16th homer of the season and his third in the past four games.
Milwaukee added three more runs in the second. Christian Yelich scored on a fielding error by second baseman Lewis, and Turang ripped a two-run double in the next at-bat.
Minnesota cut the deficit to 4-2 on Bell’s two-run homer in the third.
Culpepper brought the Twins within 4-3 with his milestone moment in the fourth. He drove a shot over the wall in center field for a 390-foot homer in his first big-league hit.
Three batters later, Minnesota evened the score at 4-all on Austin Martin’s RBI double.
The Twins took their first lead of the game in the top of the fifth. Luke Keaschall hit a go-ahead single to drive in Lewis, and Bell scored on a double-play groundout by Culpepper to make it 6-4.
The high-scoring affair continued in the bottom of the fifth as the Brewers pulled even. Jake Bauers hit a sacrifice fly and Garrett Mitchell notched an RBI infield single.
Lewis and Bell answered with one RBI apiece in the sixth to put the Twins on top 8-6.
