Tommy Milone pitched seven strong innings, and Eduardo Nunez drove in a couple runs in the Minnesota Twins' 3-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
Milone (3-1) allowed St. Louis to go on top in the second frame, but he retired 17 of the final 19 he faced on his way to a one-run, seven-inning outing with five strikeouts and no walks.
Nunez's sacrifice fly in the fourth inning provided the go-ahead run, and he beat out an infield hit in the eighth to add an insurance run.
Glen Perkins recorded the sixth save of four outs or more in his career despite allowing back-to-back singles to start the ninth.
Carlos Martinez (7-3) took the loss after having won four straight decisions. He allowed two runs -- one earned -- on five hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings with six strikeouts.
"He kept us in the game," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. "We've got to score more runs."
St. Louis went ahead in the second inning when Mark Reynolds led off with a double and Jason Heyward's single brought him home.
The Twins answered in the fourth. Trevor Plouffe led off with a double and moved up to third on Eddie Rosario's single. With Nunez at the plate, Reynolds dropped a pickoff attempt at first, allowing Plouffe to score and Rosario to reach third base. Nunez then hit a sacrifice fly to put Minnesota in front 2-1.
Milone settled in and did not yield much the rest of the way. Heyward's leadoff single in the fifth was erased on Peter Bourjos' double play, and Yadier Molina was thrown out to end the seventh when he tried extending his single into a double.
Bourjos doubled with one out in the eighth, and with two outs, Minnesota summoned its closer for a four-out save. Kolten Wong popped up to end the inning.
In the Twins' half of the eighth, Rosario tripled with two outs and scored on Nunez's infield single to Jhonny Peralta.
Matt Carpenter and Peralta led off the ninth with singles, but Perkins battled back to strike out Reynolds and Randal Grichuk before Molina grounded back to Perkins to end the game.
Game Notes
The Cardinals won both games in this series in St. Louis ... Twins star prospect Byron Buxton was 0-for-3 in his Target Field debut ... Prior to the game, the Twins signed the No. 6 pick from last week's draft, left-handed pitcher Tyler Jay from Illinois ... St. Louis was 10-2 in Martinez's starts ... The Twins send Mike Pelfrey to the mound to split the home-and-home series, and the Cardinals will counter with Jaime Garcia.
[SportsNetwork.com]
