Vaughn Grissom hit a solo home run and sacrifice fly and Grayson Rodriguez threw 5 1/3 solid innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night in Minneapolis.
Grissom hit his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning, and the Angels built a 4-1 lead and held on after Rodriguez (3-2) left the game having allowed three earned runs on six hits.
Rodriguez had been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Salt Lake, working his way back to the majors from a lower back injury.
The Angels’ bullpen delivered 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, including the ninth inning from Kirby Yates for his third save.
Josh Bell, Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee each hit two doubles for Minnesota, which went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The Twins scored first on a Kody Clemens sacrifice fly in the first. Grissom tied the game by leading off the fourth with a homer to left, then Jorge Soler came home on a balk.
Grissom hit a first-pitch fastball from the Twins’ Zebby Matthews out to left field, the ninth home run Matthews has allowed in his last six appearances.
The Angels made it 3-1 when Nolan Schanuel singled in Wade Meckler in the top of the fifth inning, and Grissom’s sacrifice fly scored Tyler Heineman from third base for a 4-1 lead.
Matthews (4-6) allowed four runs on nine hits in six innings.
Ryan Jeffers was activated from the injured list for Minnesota and was Friday’s catcher. He’d been out since mid-May with a broken hamate bone in his left hand. Jeffers went 1-for-4 in his return game.
Minnesota came up with two runs in the bottom of the sixth on Lee’s double to drive in Bell, then a groundout for pinch hitter Austin Martin to bring in another run.
