Twins turn triple play, hit five homers vs. Yankees

July 23 (UPI) -- The Minnesota Twins hacked five home runs and turned a triple play during a win against the New York Yankees Monday night.

The Twins scored the 8-6 win at Target Field in Minneapolis and also made history, tying the 1977 Boston Red Sox as the only team in Major League Baseball to record eight games with at least five home runs in one season.

Despite the power surge, the Twins' best play of the game came on the defensive end. Minnesota began the game with a triple play. Twins starter Martin Perez walked DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge in the first two at-bats. Edwin Encarnacion then stepped into the box as the third batter of the game.

Perez worked a 2-2 count against the Yankees first baseman, before tossing in a changeup for his ninth offering of the exchange. Encarnacion slapped the ball to third base where Luis Arraez easily stepped on the bag for the first out of the inning. Arraez then fired a throw to Jonathan Schoop on second base, before Schoop found first baseman Miguel Sano for the third out of the inning.

"It's not how we exactly anticipated to go about the first inning," Twins catcher Mitch Garver told reporters, according to MLB.com. "I was happy to get two right there, but three was even better. To carry that over into the first inning for us, to go hit a little bit and hit two homers, it's a great way to start."

Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz homered in the bottom of the inning for Minnesota. The Yankees tied the score in the top of the third inning. The Twins added three runs in the third frame to take a 5-2 edge. Yankees slugger Luke Voit hit his 19th homer of the season in the fourth frame. The Twins followed the solo shot with solo homers from Max Kepler and Garver in the bottom of the inning, pushing their lead to 7-3.

LeMahieu hit a solo homer for the Yankees in the next inning. Mike Tauchman plated Gleyber Torres in the top of the sixth frame for the Yankees' final run. Garver hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning, blasting a solo shot to left field for the game's final run.

Garver was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs in the win. LeMahieu also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a run scored and a walk for the Yankees.