Byron Buxton hits a home run in return, but the Reds' sixth inning round seals the Twins' defeat

It didn't take long for Byron Buxton to remind the Twins what they were missing.

Buxton hit a fifth-inning home run in his first game since returning from the injured list, but the Cincinnati Reds beat the Twins 8-4 on Friday in front of 27,170 fans at Target Field in Minneapolis thanks to a six-run seventh inning.

Although the final score suggested otherwise, it was a pitcher's duel between Julian Aguiar and Bailey Ober for six innings. The Reds (72-77) broke the 1-1 game in the seventh inning by setting up Spencer Steer's triple against Ober and TJ Friedl's RBI bunt single that gave them a one-run lead.

Ty France hit an RBI double in the next at-bat to give Cincinnati a 3-1 lead.

“I threw the ball where I wanted to throw it and they ran it,” Ober said. “The only thing I want back in the seventh inning is the walk. I threw the ball where I needed to throw it and they just hit it well. Sometimes the baseball finds a way to beat you and that's what happened in this inning.”

Ober got the next two outs by striking out Jake Fraley and Noelvi Martin before Twins manager Rocco Baldelli turned to Jorge Alcala, who walked Jonathan India to load the bases and set the stage for Elly De La Cruz's first career grand slam, a 400-foot hit to right-center field that made it 7-1.

The Twins (78-69) got three runs back in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single by Willi Castro and a two-run single by Brooks Lee to get within 7-4. However, the Reds got one of those runs back on Friedl's RBI single against Michael Tonkin in the eighth inning to increase their lead back to four runs.

The end result of the duel between the former pitchers was a total of eight earned runs for Ober and Aguiar. Ober allowed five runs on six hits while recording six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings to drop to 12-7 on the season, while Aguiar allowed three runs on three hits while recording four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings to improve to 2-0.

Buxton's home run in the fifth inning, a 400-foot hit to left center field, tied the game at 1-1.

“Buck, it's really nice to see him back in action,” Baldelli said. “Beating someone will certainly make him feel good one way or another. He's already coming in and having a really nice impact on us.”

But overall, the Twins had more strikeouts (6) than hits (5) in the loss.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead with Friedl's 356-foot solo home run in the second inning. Friedl, who had a batting average of just .213 before Friday's game, was 3 for 4 with the home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.

The Twins and Reds meet for the second game of their three-game series on Saturday at 6:10 p.m.

“We have to go out there and play hard and win games. The only way we can get into the playoffs is if we go out there and do our thing the way we're supposed to,” Ober said. “We have to go out there every game and act like we're in the playoffs now and try to go out there and win every single game we have to win for the rest of the season.”