Rhys Hoskins’ go-ahead homer in the 8th lifts Brewers to 8-7 win over Twins

MINNEAPOLIS — Rhys Hoskins hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and rookie Jackson Chourio homered and drove in three runs to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a two-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins with an 8-7 victory at Target Field on Sunday.

With the score tied at 5-5, Hoskins took Twins reliever Griffin Jax (3-4) deep to left field for his 15th home run of the season. A fan leaned over the railing to catch the ball before Minnesota left fielder Austin Martin had a chance to make the play, but the call stood after review because he did not reach into the field of play.

“The mental toughness it takes to struggle the way he has, he’s made big hits,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of Hoskins. “Every hit he gets is a big hit, it seems.”

Eric Haase also hit two solo homers for Milwaukee, his sixth career multihomer game. Chourio hit a tying leadoff homer in the seventh after ending the sixth inning with a leaping grab near the wall in foul territory down the left field line.

After the game, Chourio was asked what he liked best: the catch at the wall or his 440-foot home run.

“I think hitting home runs is one of my favorite things to do, so it has to be the home run,” Chourio said through an interpreter.

Minnesota’s offense loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning, but was unable to score a run against reliever Elvis Peguero.

The Brewers’ bats helped starter Aaron Civale overcome a tough outing. In his third start with the Brewers since being acquired in a trade, Civale allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. He also gave up four hits, including a bases-loaded single in the second inning.

Jared Koenig (8-1) threw a scoreless inning of relief in his return from injury to earn the win. Trevor Megill allowed two runs in the ninth but earned his 19th save of the season.

Twins starter Joe Ryan cruised through four innings, allowing only a solo homer to Haase before a three-run fifth punctuated by Chourio’s two-run double. Ryan was tagged for four runs in six innings.

“His breaking ball was sharp today. Overall I thought it was pretty good stuff,” Haase said of Ryan. “Luckily he made a couple of mistakes and we put pressure on him early.”

Byron Buxton hit two home runs for the Twins in the losing game, both solo.

Sunday’s match started 49 minutes late due to rain.

Milwaukee reinstated Koenig (left forearm tendonitis) from the 15-day injured list and cleared the roster by assigning designated RHP Joel Kuhnel. The Brewers also acquired LHP Tyler Jay from the Mets in exchange for RHP TJ Shook, sending Jay to Triple-A Nashville. … The Twins placed LHP Cody Funderburk on the 15-day injured list with a left oblique strain and recalled RHP Ronny Henriquez from Triple-A St. Paul.

RHP Tobias Myers (6-3, 3.13 ERA) will start Milwaukee’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs on Monday. RHP Bailey Ober (8-5, 4.14) will take the mound for Minnesota on Monday, opening a three-game series against Philadelphia.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb