David Festa and four Minnesota relievers held the Cubs to four hits on Monday as the visiting Twins blanked Chicago 3-0 in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
Manuel Margot hit a solo home run and Royce Lewis had an RBI for Minnesota, which won its fifth straight game. Margot, Trevor Larnach and Matt Wallner each tallied two hits.
Festa (2-2), making his fifth major league start, set a career high with nine strikeouts over five innings. He allowed two hits and two walks.
Caleb Thielbar, Jorge Alcala, Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax each tossed a scoreless frame in relief. Jax pitched the ninth to secure his eighth save.
Pete Crow-Armstrong and Ian Happ each hit a double for the Cubs, who struck out 14 times and never advanced a runner past second base.
Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks (3-10) surrendered two runs on five hits across six innings. The veteran right-hander walked one and fanned five.
The Twins went up 1-0 on Lewis’ sacrifice fly in the third inning. Wille Castro scored on the play after drawing a one-out walk and advancing to third on Larnach’s single.
Larnach was thrown out at home on a wacky play to end the top of the third.
Crow-Armstrong and Mike Tauchman misplayed Wallner’s fly to right-center, which landed on the warning track. Larnach puzzlingly paused at second during the play, which gave the Cubs enough time to execute a relay as Larnach dashed for home.
Margot led off the fifth inning with his fourth home run this season.
Chicago threatened in the bottom of the fifth when Crow-Armstrong doubled with two outs and Miguel Amaya followed with a walk. Festa ended his night with a flourish by fanning Happ.
Minnesota’s bullpen retired the Cubs’ next eight hitters until Happ lined a two-out double in the eighth. Duran struck out Michael Busch on a full-count pitch to end the inning. Busch struck out in all four of his plate appearances.
Wallner doubled and Max Kepler singled to start the ninth against Nate Pearson, who then induced a double play that scored Wallner to make it 3-0.
