Ryan Jeffers, Twins hammer Diamondbacks, 12

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kenta Maeda pitched another gem since returning from the injured list in late June, and Ryan Jeffers went 3 for 4 with a double, two home runs and four RBIs as the Minnesota Twins

MINNEAPOLIS -- Kenta Maeda pitched another gem since returning from the injured list in late June, and Ryan Jeffers went 3 for 4 with a double, two home runs and four RBIs as the Minnesota Twins demolished the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-1, Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 34,044 at Target Field.

Michael A. Taylor and Max Kepler also homered for the Twins, who have won four of their past five games and extended their American League Central lead to 3½ games over second-place Cleveland, which lost to the Chicago White Sox Saturday night.

“It looked good, it felt good,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We got rolling in a lot of ways. There were good swings. Everywhere you looked there were good swings.”

Kepler’s homer, a one-out solo shot off newly acquired Paul Sewald in the sixth inning, hit the Delta Sky Suite above the batter’s eye in center and gave the Twins a 10-1 lead.

Matt Wallner drove in two runs for the Twins, the second on a line drive to right off catcher Carson Kelly, called upon to mop up in the eighth inning.

Maeda allowed only one run on two hits — one a home run by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the second inning — over six innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven to improve to 3-2 with a 2.44 earned-run average since June 23, when he was activated from a 51-day stint on the IL with a triceps strain.

In those eight starts, the Twins are 6-2.

Jordan Balazovic threw two scoreless innings of relief before Jovani Moran walked the bases loaded with one out in the ninth inning. But he got Gurriel to pop out to shallow center for the second out, then struck out Jace Peterson to end the game.

Jeffers gave the Twins a 3-1 lead with a two-run homer over the scoreboard in right-center field in the second inning, then drove in a run with a double in the third. He hit a one-out, solo shot into the left-field bleachers off reliever Tyler Gilbert in the fifth.

Carlos Correa, moved to the cleanup spot after hitting leadoff since June 30, was 1 for 4 with a double, run scored and an RBI. Willi Castro drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

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Ryan Jeffers, Twins hammer Diamondbacks, 12

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