Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run double and Brandon Williamson pitched into the sixth inning to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Williamson (2-1), a Fairmont, Minn., native, earned the win in the opener of a three-game set. He threw 5 1/3 innings, allowed three hits, one run, four walks and struck out two in his homecoming start. Suarez had two of Cincinnati’s four hits.
Minnesota starter Joe Ryan (2-2) gave up three hits, two runs (one earned) and struck out six in a solid six-inning outing. Josh Bell was 2-for-4 for the Twins, who only had five hits.
Emilio Pagan tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to register his sixth save for the Reds.
Elly De La Cruz got the Reds going in the fourth when he hammered a double to deep right field. Sal Stewart reached on an error and stole second. Suarez knocked them in with a double that landed in the left-center gap as the Reds took a 2-0 lead.
A bout of wildness from Williamson led to three straight walks as the Twins loaded the bases in the fifth with no outs. Austin Martin’s sacrifice fly was caught by a sliding Will Benson in right field as Minnesota pulled within 2-1. Williamson escaped a big inning by inducing Luke Keaschall to ground into a double play.
Through three innings, Ryan was cruising. The Reds only hit was a Stewart’s blooper to shallow right field in the second.
The first bases-loaded jam of the game challenged Williamson in the third. Matt Wallner led off with a hit by pitch that he took in the right elbow guard. After two flyouts, Byron Buxton lined a single to left field and Martin walked to load the bases. But Keaschall struck out looking to end the threat.
