Christian Vazquez’s walk-off homer sends Twins past Astros

It was quite the day at the office for Christian Vazquez Sunday afternoon.

Vazquez plated the Twins’ first two runs of their series finale against the Houston Astros in a game that was tied 2-2 entering the ninth inning. Vazquez then hit a leadoff, 362-foot walk-off homer off Astros closer Josh Hader to send the Twins to a 3-2 victory at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Vazquez’s blast also kept their home run streak alive. They’ve now homered in 25 straight games.

Vazquez was 2 for 4 with the homer and three RBIs.

Josh Staumont pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning and hit a season-high 101 mph in the process, Griffin Jax tossed a shutout eighth inning and Jhoan Duran threw a scoreless ninth to preserve a 2-2 tie.

Duran picked up the victory, improving to 4-3 on the season. Hader took the loss to fall to 3-5.

The Astros (46-44) plated the first two runs of the game in the second inning when Cesar Salazar hit a sacrifice fly and Jose Altuve hit an RBI single off Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson the next at-bat. But those were the only two runs the Astros would get off Woods Richardson, who only gave up three hits in all while fanning four across his six innings of work in another strong start.

The Twins (51-39) got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning on Vazquez’s RBI single, and Vazquez also plated the tying run in the fourth inning when he grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice that scored Brooks Lee, who led off the inning with an infield single. Lee was 2 for 4.

Matt Wallner was called back up to the Twins on Sunday and played his first game since April. It didn’t take long for him to get going as he drew a walk in his first plate appearance and singled in his second. Wallner also had a nice diving play on a ball in left field for the first out of the fifth inning.

Wallner was 1 for 1 with the single and walk. 

Twins shortstop Carlos Correa exited the game after being hit in the right hand by a 96-mph fastball from Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti. The good news, however, was that initial scans did not reveal a fracture, and the Twins have designated his injury a right finger contusion. 

The Twins will look to keep their momentum going as they travel to Chicago to face the division rival White Sox in a three-game series that begins Monday. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m.