Josh Bell's power display carried Minnesota to a 6-3 victory over Houston on Sunday afternoon at Target Field. The first baseman homered twice and drove in four runs, accounting for all the offense the Twins needed in a comfortable win.
Bell went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI. He opened the scoring with a solo shot to center in the second inning, then delivered the decisive blow with a two-run homer to left in the fourth that scored Trevor Larnach. Bell added an RBI single in the sixth inning that brought Larnach home again. The performance moved Bell to 5 home runs and 28 RBI on the season.
The Twins broke the game open in the sixth inning with three runs. After Bell's RBI single made it 4-0, Luke Keaschall delivered the key blow with a two-run single to center that scored Kody Clemens and Ryan Jeffers. Houston finally answered in the seventh when Christian Vázquez singled to center to score Brice Matthews, Jeremy Peña followed with a sacrifice fly that brought Cam Smith home, and Christian Walker singled to right to score Vázquez.
Tatsuya Imai took the loss for Houston, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits over 4.2 innings with 5 strikeouts. His ERA stands at 8.31. Eric Orze earned the win for Minnesota with 1.1 scoreless innings in relief, improving to 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA.
Minnesota snapped a losing streak and improved to 21-26. Houston fell to 19-29. Bell now sits two home runs away from 200 for his career.