Mike Moustakas hit two home runs and Freddy Galvis drove in two runs as the Cincinnati Reds clinched their first postseason berth since 2013 with a 7-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Shogo Akiyama went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored for Cincinnati (30-28), which continued a blazing September with its 10th victory in the last 12 games.
Michael Lorenzen (3-1) picked up the victory in relief, allowing one run on three hits over 3 1/3 innings, walking one while striking out four.
Eddie Rosario and Jorge Polanco each had two hits to lead Minnesota (35-23), which had a four-game winning streak snapped. The Twins, who missed a chance to clinch home field advantage for the wild card round of the playoffs, lost for just the second time in 12 September home games but still head into Saturday's action with a one-game lead in the AL Central.
Jose Berrios (5-4) suffered the loss, allowing four runs on five hits over five innings.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Max Kepler led off with a single and then scored on Ehire Adrianza's double off the bottom of the wall in right-center.
Moustakas then gave Cincinnati a 2-1 lead in the fourth with a 410-foot homer just over the outstretched glove of Byron Buxton in dead center.
The Reds extended their lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Galvis led off with his seventh homer of the season, marking the first time this season Berrios allowed multiple home runs in a game. One out later, Akiyama doubled into the left field corner and scored on a single by Nick Castellanos.
The Twins cut the lead to 4-2 in the sixth on an RBI single by Marwin Gonzalez before the Reds broke the game open in the ninth against reliever Edwar Colina.
The 23-year-old Colina, making his major league debut, gave up a homer to Moustakas on his second pitch and also allowed RBI singles to Galvis and Akiyama before finally registering an out against the seventh batter he faced, a bases-loaded force out at home by Castellanos.
Buxton left the game after getting hit in the helmet by a Lucas Sims fastball leading off the bottom of the eighth inning. He walked off the field under his own power and was replaced by Jake Cave in center field.
Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson also left the game at the start of the second inning with a calf cramp and is listed as day-to-day.
--Field Level Media
