Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Twins used the long ball to surge ahead and then sweated it out at the end.
Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit homered in a four-run fourth inning as the Twins edged the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-6, to sweep the four-game, home-and- home set.
Chris Parmelee smacked a solo shot and added an RBI groundout for the Twins, who have won five of their last six tilts. P.J. Walters (2-0) surrendered four runs on 10 hits and a walk over six frames to pick up the win.
"I know they're going to swing, so I just try to make good pitches. If you make good pitches, you're going to get them out," said Walters. "Knowing that they're going to swing doesn't change my approach, but at the same time you have a lineup with guys that can hurt you. If you miss over the plate they're going to hit it hard."
Jared Burton fired a 1-2-3 ninth to tally his second save of the season.
Logan Schafer had a three-run triple and Kyle Lohse (1-6) gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk over 4 2/3 innings for Milwaukee, which has dropped six contests in a row.
"I was glad to see the offense swing the bats today, but we've got to get the pitching lined up," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "Instead of always trying to catch up like we've been doing, we need to get some leads."
The Twins jumped out to a 6-0 advantage after five innings.
Parmelee drilled a no-doubt leadoff shot onto the concourse in right in the third, while Dozier and Mauer cracked back-to-back blasts into the seats in left to start the fourth. Justin Morneau singled two batters later before Doumit smashed a moonshot over the high wall in right-center to vault Minnesota to a 5-0 advantage.
Mauer's two-out, RBI single pushed the spread to six in the fifth, but Milwaukee pushed across three two-out runs in the sixth to cut the deficit in half.
Aramis Ramirez worked a walk before back-to-back base hits by Jonathan Lucroy and Yuniesky Betancourt loaded the bags for Schafer, who ripped a bases- clearing triple into the gap in right-center to make it 6-3.
The Twins countered in the home half on Parmelee's RBI groundout, but Ryan Braun's sacrifice fly in the seventh cut the gap to 7-4.
Josh Willingham's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh again made it a four-run margin before Milwaukee again answered in the eighth with a pair of RBI groundouts by Jeff Bianchi and Carlos Gomez.
Game Notes
Parmelee and Mauer both have five homers on the year ... Milwaukee was 2- for-13 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.
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