Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Minnesota 10, Houston 6
When: 2:10 PM ET, Monday, September 2, 2013
Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Joe West, 1B - Sam Holbrook, 2B - Andy Fletcher, 3B - Rob Drake
Attendance: 14287

Twins 10, Astros 6: Chris Colabello belted two homers, including a tiebreaking grand slam in the top of the ninth inning, as visiting Minnesota rallied from four runs down to claim the opener of the three-game series.

The Twins loaded the bases with an infield hit and two walks before Colabello hammered the first pitch he saw from Chia-Jen Lo (0-3) over the center-field fence for his first career grand slam. Trevor Plouffe hit a solo home run among three hits, Pedro Florimon added two hits and a pair of RBIs and Josh Roenicke (3-1) pitched two hitless innings to earn the victory for Minnesota.

Jose Altuve followed his three-hit effort Sunday by going 4-for-5 with two runs scored for Houston, which lost for the sixth time in seven games. Jason Castro, who left the game in the second inning with a sprained right knee, and Chris Carter each collected two hits and two RBIs for the Astros.

The Astros sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and posted three runs on RBI singles by Castro, Carter and Trevor Crowe. After Plouffe’s solo blast in the top of the second, Castro singled home one and Carter plated another with a double in the bottom of the frame for a 5-1 lead.

Colabello’s solo homer to right-center field and Florimon’s run-scoring single – both with two outs - pulled the Twins within 6-4 in the fourth. Brian Dozier belted a solo homer to lead off the fifth and the Twins tied it in the eighth on Florimon’s two-out RBI single.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Brandon Barnes had a bunt single in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game before Altuve (first) and Robbie Grossman (second) matched him in the opening two frames Monday. … Minnesota OF Alex Presley went 0-for-3 in his second game since being acquired from Pittsburgh for Justin Morneau. Presley was 3-for-4 with an RBI in his debut Sunday. … Houston starter Paul Clemens gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. Minnesota’s Andrew Albers lasted only the first 1 2/3 innings, surrendering five runs and nine hits.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Houston
Andrew Albers Player Paul Clemens
No Decision W/L No Decision
1.2 IP 3.2
2 Strikeouts 0
9 Hits 7
27.00 ERA 7.36
Hitting
Minnesota   Houston
Trevor Plouffe Player Jose Altuve
3 Hits 4
1 RBI 1
1 HR 0
6 TB 4
1.000 Avg .800
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 13 4 26 .382 12 7 10 9 1 0
Houston 13 0 16 .351 18 10 6 3 2 2