Back-to-back jacks help Twins take down Blue Jays

Brooks Lee and Christian Vazquez hit consecutive home runs and the Minnesota Twins held on for a 6-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Ty France went 2-for-4 with an RBI double for Minnesota, which salvaged a win in the three-game series. Byron Buxton and Trevor Larnach added one RBI apiece.

George Springer and Alan Roden each doubled and drove in a run for Toronto, whose four-game winning streak ended. Alejandro Kirk also drove in a run.

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (7-2) allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out six, and he threw 61 of his 92 pitches for strikes.

Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis (2-8) gave up four runs on five hits, including a pair of home runs, in 3 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out two.

Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 10th save.

The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the top of the second. Roden hit an RBI double to center field to drive in Ernie Clement from first base.

Minnesota responded with two runs in the bottom of the second to go ahead 2-1. Vazquez had an RBI groundout to second, and Larnach delivered a sacrifice fly to center.

The back-and-forth scoring continued in the top of the third, when the Blue Jays scored twice to grab a 3-2 advantage. Kirk hit an RBI single to left, and Springer followed with an RBI double to left.

Lee and Vazquez put the Twins on top for good with back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Lee hit a 348-foot homer to right, and Vazquez ripped a 395-foot homer to left on a full count.

Minnesota added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase its lead to 6-3. France hit an RBI double to right to drive in Royce Lewis, and Buxton drew a bases-loaded walk that allowed Willi Castro to trot home for the final run of the game.

--Field Level Media