Minnesota Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda struck out seven over six innings of one-run, two-hit baseball to pick up his third win in a 12-1 clobbering of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.
Maeda (3-6) surrendered his only run on a solo shot from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in the second inning, but went on to retire his last 14 batters in an 87-pitch effort at Target Field.
Ryan Jeffers had two homers, a double and four RBIs for the Twins, while Michael A. Taylor and Max Kepler also went deep to give Maeda a 10-1 lead by the time he left the mound.
"I was trying to attack the zone after my teammates gave me lots of run support, and it turned out nicely," said Maeda, who made his 12th start this year after missing the whole of last season following Tommy John surgery in September 2021.
"I was creative using a variety of pitches and managed to throw well to the edge with all of them. I'm learning by trial and error and things are gradually on the up, leading to good results."
Masataka Yoshida went 2-for-4 and reached 1,000 hits in Japanese pro baseball and MLB combined as the Boston Red Sox lost 5-4 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Two-way star Shohei Ohtani had his nine-game hitting run snapped as he went 0-for-4 as the Los Angeles Angels fell 3-2 to the Seattle Mariners, losing their fifth straight.
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