Carlos Santana went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs, and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Willi Castro finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs for Minnesota, which won its fifth game in a row. Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers added one RBI apiece.
Nolan Schanuel went 1-for-3 with two RBIs for the Angels, who lost for the seventh time in their past eight games. Zach Neto was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (2-1) allowed two runs on three hits in 7 1/3 innings. He walked three and struck out eight.
Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval (1-4) gave up four runs (three earned) on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Twins reliever Caleb Thielbar escaped a jam in the ninth for his first save of the season.
The Twins opened the scoring in the top of the second. Santana belted a solo shot an estimated 425 feet to center field for his second homer of the year.
One inning later, Minnesota made it 2-0. Buxton ripped a two-out RBI single to left, scoring Castro from second base.
Jeffers added a run-scoring single in the fifth to increase the Twins’ lead to 3-0.
In the sixth, Santana notched his second RBI of the game with a single to center to drive in Jose Miranda.
The Angels got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth. Luis Rengifo led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on a double by Neto and scored on a Schanuel’s groundout to shortstop.
Schanuel delivered again with an RBI single to left in the bottom of the eighth.
The Twins made it 5-2 in the ninth. Castro drove in Austin Martin with his second double of the game.
Neto hit an RBI single to right field to cut the deficit to 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth. The Angels had runners on first and third with two outs for Mike Trout, who grounded out to third base to end the game.
