Rookie Connor Prielipp, making just his second major league start, was nearly unhittable in his outing. Prielipp did not allow a baserunner until the third and a hit until the fifth.

The young lefty ran into some trouble in the fifth — his final inning of work — allowing a pair of walks to begin the inning before Mitch Garver singled for the Mariners’ first hit of the game. A sacrifice fly brought home the Twins’ second run.

At the time he left, the Twins had a 7-2 lead and for his effort, Prielipp collected his first-career win.

It was also a good day all around for the bats, as the Twins had more than twice as many hits with runners in scoring position on Monday (5) than they did during the entire weekend series in Tampa Bay (2).

Kody Clemens had the big swing of the game, a three-run home run in the third inning and later drove in two more runs in the eighth inning as the Twins rallied to pad their lead. Clemens finished the day with five RBIs after entering the game with just three all season.

A good slide by Josh Bell helped him evade a tag from catcher Mitch Garver to score the Twins’ first run of the night.

But it wasn’t until an inning later, in the third, when the Twins really pulled away. It started with a Trevor Larnach triple that Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez got a glove on but could not come down with.

A walk and a single followed, and Larnach scored, before Clemens sent his third home run of the season out into right field, giving the Twins a five-run lead at the time.

The Twins will send Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.90 ERA) to the mound for the second game of the series, where he will square off against Logan Gilbert (1-3, 4.36 ERA). Ryan gave up seven runs (four earned) in his last outing.

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