Twins beat Phillies 7-2 as Ober recovers from Harper’s early 2-run homer to complete 7 innings

“He looked great,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You could almost make an argument that you should just leave him in the game and let him pitch.”

Cole Sands closed the season with two scoreless innings for the Twins, who limited the Phillies to one hit in their final 27 at bats.

Willi Castro had an RBI single in the third and Manny Margot hit the go-ahead two-run single in the fifth against Phillies starter Ranger Suárez (10-5), who dropped his fourth straight decision and failed to finish the sixth inning for the third time in his last four starts. Despite Suárez’s recent slide, the Twins were especially proud of their production against the left-hander in his seventh year.

“He’s a phenomenal pitcher,” Margot said through an interpreter. “The way he mixes his pitches is amazing.”

Suárez, who surrendered seven hits and one walk in 5 1/3 innings, was one of eight Phillies selected as All-Stars. He did not pitch in the game because of back spasms, and his ERA has climbed from 1.36 to 2.87 over the past two months. The Phillies had him on an 85-pitch limit.

“Much better,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The velocity was a little better than his last couple of starts. I thought he landed his breaking ball when he had to get behind in the count, and he put the breaking ball where he wanted it on his put-away pitches.”

Carlos Santana added an RBI double in the seventh and Max Kepler had an RBI single to start a three-run eighth for the Twins (55-44), who snapped a three-game losing streak and moved within four games of first-place Cleveland in the AL Central. It’s the closest they’ve been to the lead since May 17.

After the first pitch was delayed 90 minutes due to a severe storm that battered the downtown stadium, Harper followed a single off Trea Turner with his hardest hit of the season. The 424-foot home run that landed in the right-field brink was measured at 113.8 mph off the bat by MLB’s Statcast data.

The eight-time All-Star and two-time NL MVP, who has 23 homers and 65 RBIs this year, played at Target Field for the first time in his 13 seasons, checking off all 30 current stadiums in the Major League Baseball.

The Twins entered the game with a threatening 2-19 mark against opponents currently holding a better record: the Orioles, Guardians, Dodgers, Yankees and Brewers.

The only other club in that category, of course, is baseball’s best team of the season, the Phillies (63-37), who entered their first visit to Target Field in eight years with the best team ERA in the Major Leagues and a top-five finish in most hitting yards.

“It shows what kind of team we have here,” Ober said, “and that we can play with anyone.”

The Phillies have lost five of their last seven games.

“We’re going through one of those periods where we’re pitching but not hitting, and when we’re hitting, we’re not throwing,” Thomson said. “That’s part of this long season, and we’ll figure it out.”

Twins 3B Royce Lewis (groin strain) begins a rehab assignment at Triple-A St. Paul on Tuesday. Lewis has missed the last 14 games, but he avoided another extended absence — he missed 58 games earlier this season with a quadriceps strain — by promptly identifying and reporting the problem.

“Normally that’s something where I feel that tension and I don’t say anything about it,” Lewis said before the game. “I think the ultimate goal is to learn that I don’t have to be Superman.”

Phillies RHP Zack Wheeler (10-4, 2.70 ERA) pitches on Tuesday night and RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.51) takes the mound for the Twins in the middle game of the series.

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