Trevor Larnach hit a three-run homer, Joey Gallo homered for the second straight game and Louie Varland pitched 6 1/3 solid innings for the Minnesota Twins in a 16-3 win against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Varland (1-0) earned his second career win in his ninth major league start for his hometown Twins, who won their second consecutive series. They posted season highs in runs and hits (18) for the second game in a row after Saturday’s 11-1 victory against Chicago.
Minnesota hit eight home runs over the final two games of the series, and the 29 runs in the series established a Twins record for most in a three-game set at Target Field, which opened in 2010.
Marcus Stroman gave up six runs in 2 2/3 innings.
Christopher Morel and Seiya Suzuki homered for Chicago, which has lost five of seven. Morel’s third homer in five games since being recalled from Triple-A landed in the third deck in left field, projected at 461 feet by MLB’s Statcast.
Jameson Taillon (0-2, 6.41 ERA) will start the first game for Chicago in Houston on Monday against LHP Framber Valdez (3-4, 2.38). Taillon is coming off his shortest outing of the season after he gave up four runs in 2 2/3 innings against St. Louis last Tuesday.
