Josh Bell, Kody Clemens and Luke Keaschall belted home runs while Taj Bradley matched his career high for strikeouts as the visiting Minnesota Twins claimed the rubber match of their three-game series against the Houston Astros with an 8-3 victory on Wednesday.

Bell extended his career-high 16-game road hitting streak with a two-run blast in the top of the first inning before Clemens socked a three-run homer an inning later.

The Twins wasted little time chasing Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai (5-4) from the mound.

Imai, who won his third consecutive decision while posting his third scoreless outing in his last start at Detroit, was ragged from the onset. He surrendered a leadoff double to Trevor Larnach and, three batters later, grooved a 2-1 slider that Bell tattooed to straightaway center field.

Bell notched his 11th homer of the season with a seismic 452-foot blast that cleared the batter’s eye. Imai followed by loading the bases with a pair of walks around a Victor Caratini single, but escaped the first inning without any additional damage. He wasn’t as fortunate in the second.

Imai walked three more batters in the second, including Keaschall and Brooks Lee, before Clemens came to the plate with one out. Clemens followed with his 14th home run, a 399-foot drive into the home bullpen in right-center that lifted the Twins to a 5-1 lead.

Imai, who needed 34 pitches to complete the first, departed after walking Bell. He allowed five runs on four hits and five walks over 1? innings, marking his third start of fewer than two innings.

Bradley (7-3) surrendered his lone run in the bottom of the first when Jose Altuve worked a leadoff walk and scored on Isaac Paredes’ double-play grounder. Bradley closed the first with a strikeout of Christian Walker, the first of 10 consecutive batters he retired via the strikeout.

Nick Allen snapped that run with a groundout to open the fifth, but Bradley closed his outing by recording a called third strike on Paredes. He worked five innings and allowed four hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts.

Larnach delivered a two-run single in the top of the fifth. Keaschall answered the Astros’ two-run sixth with a solo homer, his third, in the eighth.

–Field Level Media

Brayan Rocchio hit a two-run, walk-off homer with one out in the ninth inning to lift the host Cleveland Guardians a 6-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday night.

Rocchio’s towering, 380-foot drive off Grant Taylor (4-2) hit the foul pole in right, also scoring pinch runner Daniel Schneemann as Cleveland’s entire team mobbed both players at the plate. It was Rocchio’s second career walk-off home run.

Tim Herrin (1-3) retired all three hitters in the top of the ninth for the victory, while Taylor gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings as Chicago manager Will Venable was using the right-hander in a six-out save situation.

Rocchio drove in three runs for the Guardians, who pulled into a virtual tie with the White Sox atop the American League Central. Cleveland has played two more games and has one more win and loss.

Chicago had taken a 5-2 lead after Kyle Teel’s two-RBI double in the fifth and Chase Meidroth’s two-run homer in the sixth, both off Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi.

The Guardians pulled within 5-3 in the sixth on Chase DeLauter’s RBI groundout that plated Gabriel Arias, then sliced their deficit in half in the seventh on David Fry’s second career pinch-hit homer off Brandon Eisert.

Cecconi gave up five runs on nine hits in five-plus innings, walking one with three strikeouts. The right-hander was chased in the sixth on Meidroth’s 349-foot blast to right that scored Braden Montgomery and made it 5-2.

Teel’s two-run double was one of four two-baggers for Chicago in the fifth, when it scored three times to pull ahead 3-2. Tristan Peters, Sam Antonacci and Miguel Vargas all doubled and later scored.

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the third on Travis Bazzana’s one-out double and Rocchio’s bases-loaded walk, both against White Sox starter Davis Martin. Patrick Bailey led off with a double and scored, while Bazzana came home on the free pass.

Martin — tied for the AL lead with nine wins — worked a season-low-tying 3 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on six hits. The right-hander walked five without a strikeout in his final start before the All-Star teams are announced.

Antonacci of Chicago and DeLauter were both caught stealing in the first by the opposing starting pitchers after singling.

Guardians rookie left fielder Cooper Ingle dropped a routine fly ball in the second, allowing Colson Montgomery to reach base.

Two nights earlier, Ingle threw the ball into the stands with two outs against the Texas Rangers, allowing the go-ahead run to score in a 4-2 home loss.

–Field Level Media

Shakira Austin scored 21 points as the Washington Mystics rallied past the visiting Atlanta Dream for another dramatic victory, winning 81-76 on Thursday night.

Kiki Iriafen notched 14 points and 10 rebounds, Alicia Florez provided 13 points and seven assists off the bench and Georgia Amoore added 11 points for the Mystics, who overcame a double-digit second-half deficit and finally went ahead with less than five minutes remaining.

Washington (10-9) overcame 28 turnovers but benefited from 55.4% shooting from the floor, including 56.2% (9 of 16) from 3-point range.

The turnover total tied the highest figure by a WNBA team in a game this season.

The Mystics were coming off a 124-123 quadruple-overtime victory against the Portland Fire on Sunday.

Rhyne Howard poured in 24 points, but the Dream (12-8) lost their fourth game in a row. Allisha Gray tacked on 17 points, Angel Reese supplied 13 points and 13 rebounds and Jordin Canada had 10 points. Howard made five of Atlanta’s seven 3-point baskets, but she shot just 8 for 20 overall.

After trailing by nine at halftime, Washington found a spark in the third quarter, pulling within two points twice before trailing 60-56 going to the fourth quarter. By then, the Mystics had made 6 of 10 attempts from 3-point range.

Amoore made two free throws with 11.4 seconds to play to give Washington an 80-76 edge. The Mystics pumped in 49 second-half points.

Austin shot 9-for-14 from the field and also pulled in nine rebounds and blocked three shots.

The Mystics, who improved to 4-4 at home this season, were held to nine second-quarter points, and they were down 41-32 at halftime.

Atlanta shot 2-for-15 on first-half 3-point attempts, and though Washington hit 58.3% from the floor in the half, the Mystics were hampered by 19 turnovers.

The Dream scored 18 points in slightly more than four minutes to open the game. The contest was barely five minutes old and the Mystics had committed seven turnovers.

Yet despite 10 first-quarter turnovers, Washington pulled ahead 23-22 by the end of the quarter when Alicia Florez sank a free throw in the final seconds.

Atlanta began the second quarter on a 10-2 run on the way to a 10-point lead.

–Field Level Media