歪歪漫画

MINNEAPOLIS 鈥� Yordan Alvarez got a pitch to his liking and the 6-foot-4, 240-pound designated hitter unleashed his might. It was a high fastball from Griffin Jax, right at the top of the zone, and it quickly disappeared into the second deck in right-center field.

Alvarez鈥檚 ninth-inning home run completed Houston鈥檚 comeback. Once trailing by six runs, the Astros marched all the way back, using Alvarez鈥檚 home run to tie the game and then scoring another pair of runs in the 10th to oust the Twins 9-7 on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Target Field.

Jose Altuve鈥檚 RBI single in the 10th off Louie Varland (1-1) gave the Astros, who added an insurance run later in the inning, their first lead since the first inning.

鈥淚 know he鈥檇 been struggling on fastballs up pretty much all series,鈥� Jax said. 鈥淢aybe he was over it and ready to get on top of a pitch like that. I鈥檒l go look at it in a little bit and see if I got it to the right spot, but you can鈥檛 really second-guess yourself. It鈥檚 over.鈥�

It may not ease the sting of the moment, but Ryan Jeffers said he would call those pitches 鈥� the one to Isaac Paredes, who singled before Alvarez and the pitch to the designated hitter 鈥� again. Or, put in other words: right process, wrong result.

鈥淚t sucks but that鈥檚 kind of how this game works,鈥� Jeffers said.

The late loss was a difficult one to take for the Twins (3-6), who were in control of the game for much of it, after scoring three runs in the first, another in the second and three more in the fourth.

Leadoff hitter Matt Wallner set the tone for the offense, collecting four hits in the game, which matched his career high. Jeffers drove in a pair of runs and Trevor Larnach drove three home. And yet, seven runs wasn鈥檛 enough on Sunday. The Twins did not score after the fourth inning, at which point the Astros (4-5) began chipping away at their lead.

Up 7-1, Minnesota starting pitcher Chris Paddack found trouble in the fifth inning, walking the first batter. The next batter reached on a double and the third on an error by Willi Castro. Paredes and Alvarez singles ended Paddack鈥檚 day with the bases loaded.

鈥淚鈥檓 hard on myself. I鈥檝e just got to be better,鈥� Paddack said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 let an inning like that, going out in the fifth, snowball with a leadoff walk when we鈥檝e got a 7-1 lead.鈥�

Cole Sands did his best to minimize the damage. But all told, three runs scored in the inning. Houston scored again in the sixth to pull within two, an inning that could have been much worse had Harrison Bader鈥檚 diving catch on an Alvarez liner to left field not saved a run, or potentially even two.

And that鈥檚 where things stood until the ninth inning when Alvarez stepped to the plate and delivered a dagger.

鈥淭his is going to be a tough one that鈥檚 going to bother a lot of people in our clubhouse,鈥� manager Rocco Baldelli said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no doubt about that. And I can鈥檛 think we鈥檙e wrong for thinking that. It鈥檚 a game we should win. It鈥檚 a game we need to win.鈥�