Rookie Mick Abel pitched six scoreless innings against his former team, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 5-0 road victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
A 24-year-old right-hander, Abel (3-4) was a key piece of the July trade that sent star closer Jhoan Duran to Philadelphia. He has mostly struggled since joining Minnesota but authored the best outing of his Twins tenure in this one, allowing three hits — all singles — and a walk while striking out nine.
Abel’s splendid effort cemented Philadelphia (95-66) as the No. 2 seed in the National League playoffs. The Phillies, champions of the NL East, will face the winner of the wild-card series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and either the New York Mets or Cincinnati Reds.
Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez (12-8) was hit hard in his final postseason tune-up. He gave up three runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings before leaving with a thigh contusion after getting hit by a comebacker to the mound.
Byron Buxton, James Outman and Ryan Fitzgerald homered for Minnesota (70-91). Alec Bohm had two of the Phillies’ seven hits.
Buxton led off the game with a homer against Sanchez — his 35th of the season. Abel rode the momentum into his opening frame, as he struck out the side to kick off his impressive evening.
The Twins pushed across another run in the fourth, as ex-Phillie Kody Clemens singled with one out and moved to third on a base hit by Brooks Lee. Carson McCusker followed with a run-scoring groundout to make it 2-0.
Outman opened the fifth inning with a homer to center to make it 3-0.
The visitors tacked on two more runs in the seventh against Max Lazar. Fitzgerald’s leadoff homer made it 4-0 before Ryan Jeffers added an RBI double later in the frame to cap the scoring.
Right-hander Pierson Ohl logged the seventh and eighth innings for the Twins before lefty Kody Funderburk took care of matters in the ninth.
