Dylan Moore hits pair of home runs as Mariners outlast Twins

MINNEAPOLIS — Dylan Moore hit a pair of home runs, including a three-run blast in the fifth inning, and the Seattle Mariners survived a Minnesota Twins rally for an 8-7 win Wednesday with a series victory.

Julio Rodríguez added a home run and two doubles as the Mariners won for the fifth time in their past seven games. The AL Central-leading Twins dropped their second in a row following a four-game winning streak.

On a hot afternoon in the Twin Cities that saw seven home runs and 22 combined hits, Moore finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and his first multi-home run outing. The fifth-year pro came into the day hitting .128 in 20 games this season.

“It’s challenging whether you had a whole spring training or just came off the IL,” said Moore, who had offseason core surgery and began the season on the injured list. “I just kind of had to find a different way to get prepared for the season.

“I like where I’m at now.”

Moore’s three-run homer off reliever Jordan Balazovic in the fifth inning gave Seattle a 7-3 lead.

Mariners rookie right-hander Bryce Miller (7-3) struck out seven while yielding six earned runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Minnesota’s Matt Wallner hit his second home run of the day — a solo shot to left for his own first career multi-homer game — off Miller in a four-run sixth inning for the Twins.

Andrés Muñoz earned his second save after coaxing Max Kepler’s game-ending ground-out with a runner at second.

“Interesting game, interesting series,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Obviously, the Twins are one of the hottest teams in baseball coming out of the (All-Star) break, so to get in here and win two out of three — you look at all three games, we could have won all three, we could’ve easily lost all three — and end up winning the series, you feel good about it.”

Twins starter Joe Ryan (9-7) lasted just 3 2/3 innings, yielding four earned runs on seven hits and striking out seven batters. He required 95 pitches to record 11 outs.

Recalled from Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday, reliever Josh Winder gave a depleted Twins bullpen four innings of relief. He surrendered one earned run and struck out four batters.

“Somehow, we’re sitting there a swing away from winning the ballgame after all of that,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s almost hard to believe, but we put ourselves in a good position. There was never any quit.”

Seattle Minnesota

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Rodríguez cf 5 3 3 1 Correa ss 5 0 0 0

Suárez 3b 4 0 1 1 Julien 2b 5 1 1 1

Hernández rf 5 0 1 1 Kepler dh 5 0 0 0

Ford dh 5 0 0 0 Wallner rf 4 2 2 2

France 1b 3 1 0 0 Castro cf 4 0 1 0

Murphy c 4 1 1 0 Larnach lf 4 1 2 0

Marlowe lf 2 1 0 0 Farmer 3b 4 1 2 1

Moore ss 4 2 3 4 Gallo 1b 3 1 1 1

Wong 2b 4 0 1 1 Solano 1b 1 0 0 0

Vázquez c 4 1 3 2

Taylor pr 0 0 0 0

Totals 36 8 10 8 Totals 39 7 12 7

Seattle 111 131 000 — 8

Minnesota 002 104 000 — 7

DP:Seattle 0, Minnesota 1. LOB:Seattle 5, Minnesota 5. 2B:Rodríguez 2 (20), Murphy (11), Castro (11), Larnach (6), Gallo (9). HR:Moore 2 (4), Rodríguez (17), Vázquez (3), Julien (10), Wallner 2 (4).

IP H R ER BB SO

Seattle

Miller W,7-3 5 2/3 8 6 6 0 7

Brash H,13 1/3 2 1 1 0 1

Speier H,10 1 0 0 0 0 1

Topa H,15 1 1 0 0 0 0

Muñoz S,2-3 1 1 0 0 0 0

Minnesota

Ryan L,9-7 3 2/3 7 4 4 2 7

Balazovic 1 1/3 1 3 3 2 1

Winder 4 2 1 1 0 4

Umpires:Home, Chad Whitson; First, Roberto Ortiz; Second, Rob Drake; Third, Bill Miller.

T:2:41. A: 25,728 (38,544).