Twins hit 3 solo HRs and top the slumping D-backs 3-2; Taylor’s tiebreaker came in the 7th

“We had good at-bats. We were able to hit some balls out of the ballpark, but there were a lot of hard balls hit,” Taylor said. “It could’ve looked very different, I think.”

Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler went deep against Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly, who otherwise cruised through six innings with nine strikeouts against the club that leads the major leagues in whiffs.

“He’s such a perfectionist,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s disappointed. I knew it when I took him out of the game.”

Taylor greeted Scott McGough (1-7) with an opposite-field drive off a 1-2 fastball into the flower boxes above the limestone facade beyond right field that put the Twins in front.

Jhoan Duran recorded his 20th save in 24 tries for the Twins, the flame-throwing closer’s latest shaky finish. Duran gave up a walk and a single with one out, before getting a big break when Geraldo Perdomo popped up his first-pitch bunt attempt for an easy out in front of the mound.

“The barrel was still getting into position when the ball was upon him,” Lovullo said. “We’ve got to perfect that punch list of things you’ve got to go through before you make that decision.”

Ketel Marte struck out looking to end it on a 99 mph fastball on the outside edge from Duran, who has only one perfect inning in his last 13 appearances.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered in the second inning for the Diamondbacks and scored the go-ahead run in the fourth when he was hit by a fastball from Twins starter Bailey Ober. Jose Herrera’s two-out bloop single into left field was just out of shortstop Carlos Correa’s running reach to drive in Gurriel.

The next batter, Perdomo, hit a similarly placed ball that left fielder Willi Castro snagged with a tumbling shoestring catch.

The Diamondbacks (57-54), who led the NL West by three games on July 1, lost for the 20th time in 27 games. They’re in third place, having entered the evening 6 1/2 games behind Los Angeles.

Ober was pulled after five innings and 104 pitches. Dylan Floro, Caleb Thielbar (1-1), Emilio Pagán and Duran finished with four scoreless innings for the Twins (57-54), who kept their 2 1/2-game edge on Cleveland in the AL Central.

“I felt like I should have gone six or seven innings,” Ober said. “I felt like the home run was really the only one they kind of earned off me.”

Kelly allowed three or fewer runs for the 10th time in his last 11 starts. He went more than a month between turns because of a blood clot in his right calf muscle.

“He’s got a pitch kind of for whatever your weakness is,” Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler said.

Polanco, who missed 41 games with a strained left hamstring, hit his first homer since June 3. Taylor struck out with the bases loaded to end the second inning.

“I felt like I had a good at-bat. I swung at the pitches I wanted to, and I thought that pitch was down, and the call didn’t go my way,” Taylor said.

The Twins welcomed new pitcher Dallas Keuchel, who was promoted from Triple-A this week and slotted into the rotation on Sunday for the injured Joe Ryan. The 35-year-old Keuchel, who won the 2015 AL Cy Young Award with Houston, struggled badly while pitching for three major league teams last season.

“I just kind of stayed persistent with wanting to be with the Twins, and it just worked out the way it worked out,” Keuchel said.

Diamondbacks: 3B/DH Evan Longoria was sent back to Arizona for further treatment and examination of his strained lower back. He’s been out for 10 days, still experiencing stiffness and pain. “It hasn’t been responding as favorable as we wanted. He had a couple good days and then a setback,” Lovullo said.

Twins: DH Byron Buxton went on the 10-day injured list with a strained right hamstring, expected to miss at least two weeks.

Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (6-5, 4.84 ERA) pitches on Saturday night, opposite Twins RHP Kenta Maeda (2-6, 4.53 ERA). Maeda has a 2.63 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings in seven starts since coming off the injured list, with the Twins winning five.

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