SAN DIEGO (AP) - Minnesota’s Kevin Correia was a visitor and at home all in the same place.
“It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed,” he said.
Correia, a San Diego native and resident of nearby Del Mar, scattered three runs and four hits over six innings in leading the Twins to a 5-3 win over the Padres on Tuesday night.
Pitching in front of more than 50 family members and friends, Correia (2-5) won for only the second time in his last eight starts. He got some help from relievers Jared Burton and Glen Perkins as the Twins beat the Padres for the seventh straight time.
“It all starts with your pitcher and your starter has to give you an opportunity and Correia did that for us,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It was good for him and it was good for us.”
Correia, who was aided by Kurt Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run and Chris Parmelee’s conventional homer, had been scuffling. So while he was thrilled to beat his ex-team in his hometown, getting the win trumped the location.
“At this point I didn’t care where I was,” said Correia, who struck out six and walked a batter. “It was great to come home and throw in front of some people you know and have a decent game but I’ve pitched here a lot so it’s not incredibly special.”
Ian Kennedy (2-6) worked into the seventh for San Diego, giving up four runs as he lost for the seventh time in eight starts against American League teams.
It was the second of Kennedy’s two wild pitches that helped the Twins score the go-ahead run in the seventh. His first wild pitch in the sixth let the Twins tie the game.
“When you are trying to throw curveballs down in the dirt, it’s going to happen,” he said.
Suzuki’s inside-the-park home run, the first by a Twin since Joe Mauer’s on July 21, 2007 against the Angels, made it 5-3 in the eighth inning. It appeared the ball cleared the left-field fence and ricocheted back on the field. But the umpires never gave the home run signal so there was no slow trot for Suzuki.
“Interesting, very weird,” Suzuki said. “I just kept running. I had a pretty good idea it was out but I wasn’t sure. I got to third base and I thought I had a chance so I figured I should just keep going.”
Eduardo Escobar walked to begin the Twins’ seventh, took second on Aaron Hicks’ sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a wild pitch. Pinch-hitter Josmil Pinto’s fly to right scored Escobar for the 4-3 lead.
Correia retired the first 12 batters before Chase Headley doubled to right in the fifth. During that stretch Correia struck out four, with only four balls hit out of the infield.
Will Venable followed Headley’s double with a single and Headley scored on Jedd Gyorko’s grounder through the left side. After the runners advanced on Yonder Alonso’s fly to right, Yasmani Grandal’s sacrifice fly scored Venable to tie the score at 2-2.
Kennedy’s single gave the Padres the advantage as Gyorko scored the inning’s third run.
“I got frustrated and then I gave up the hit to the pitcher,” Correia said.
The Twins tied the game in the sixth when Trevor Plouffe scored on a wild pitch after reaching on a double and going to third on Parmelee’s groundout.
In the third, Plouffe had extended the Twins’ lead to 2-0 when he singled in Brian Dozier.
The Twins took the lead when Parmelee opened the second with 417-foot homer to center, his third of the season.
NOTES: Padres P Andrew Cashner, who is on the DL with right elbow soreness, isn’t too concerned. An MRI on Monday didn’t reveal significant damage. “I don’t think it is anything serious,” Cashner said. “I’m going to rest for a week and we’ll see where we are.” RHP Donn Roach will make his second start in place of Cashner on Saturday against the Cubs. … With the first of five interleague games on Tuesday, the Twins recalled C/OF Chris Herrmann after Sunday’s game. “It’s nice because he’s able to catch a little for us and I can use him or (Josmil) Pinto in a pinch-hitting role,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “You have that extra guy and you need that in this league.”… Mauer extended his interleague hitting streak to 14 games, the second-longest active streak to the Angels’ Mike Trout (15). . Twins RHP Phil Hughes (4-1, 3.61) faces Padres RHP Tyson Ross (5-3, 2.81) in Wednesday’s series finale.
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