The Minnesota Twins defeated the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on Friday night at T-Mobile Park, improving their record to 56-55.
It marked the first time they have been above . 500 since April 21.
Home runs from Brooks Lee, Royce Lewis, and Ryan Jeffers powered the offense. The Twins erased two separate deficits against Seattle starter Bryce Miller and the Mariners bullpen.
Starting pitcher Zebby Matthews recovered from a difficult start to strike out a career-high 10 batters over five innings.
He allowed three runs and four hits before handing the game to the bullpen.
Relievers Kody Funderburk, Tommy Nance, Andrew Morris, and Yoendrys Gómez combined for four hitless, scoreless innings.
Their performance secured the victory and kept Seattle off the scoreboard in the final frames.
With the win, Minnesota tied the Cleveland Guardians for second place in the American League Central and the third AL Wild Card spot.
The club trails the division-leading Chicago White Sox by three games.
Front Office Adds Pitching Depth
During the game, the Twins acquired veteran starter Dean Kremer from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for prospect Jhomnardo Reyes.
This move follows the recent addition of reliever AJ Minter from the New York Mets.
General manager Jeremy Zoll had previously announced the front office's strategy to actively acquire talent ahead of the trade deadline, according to reports by Matthew Leach of MLB.
com and Dan Hayes of The Athletic.
"This has been what we were focusing on and what our pro personnel group over the last couple of months has been focused on — the 'buy' version of things," Zoll said.
"It wasn't some situation where they were prepping to sell and we're switching. Now we're looking forward to try and execute on that work."
Zoll also indicated that key contributors like catcher Ryan Jeffers would remain with the franchise through the stretch run.
"What I'll say is on Ryan specifically, he's had an awesome year," he said.
"We're really excited about where he's at, and looking forward to doing everything we can to keep the group together and put us in the best spot to keep pushing ahead."
The series between Minnesota and Seattle continues with two afternoon games scheduled at T-Mobile Park over the weekend.
