Josh Donaldson smacked a three-run homer to power the visiting Minnesota Twins past the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 on Tuesday in the first half of an interleague doubleheader.

Miguel Sano hit a two-run homer and Nelson Cruz hit a solo shot as the Twins (27-17) won for the seventh time in their last eight games. They won their third straight game against the Cardinals (17-17).

Winning pitcher Jose Berrios (4-3) allowed three runs on four hits in five-plus innings. Losing pitcher Carlos Martinez (0-2) allowed four runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings in his first outing since recovering from COVID-19.

In his previous game, back on July 28, Martinez allowed the Twins to score six runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Willians Astudillo lined a one-out single to left in the third inning and raced to third on Luis Arraez's hit-and-run single up the middle. That set the stage for Donaldson, who cranked a breaking pitch over the left-field wall to put the Twins up 3-0.

Cruz, who was back in the lineup after missing two games with a sore hip, drew a two-out walk and moved to third on Eddie Rosario's double to the wall in right-center field.

But Martinez got Sano to hit an inning-ending groundout.

Astudillo hit a two-out double over center fielder Harrison Bader in the fourth inning and scored on Arraez's single to right field to make it 4-0.

Cruz poked an opposite-field homer in the fifth inning off reliever Jake Woodford to increase the Twins' lead to 5-0.

The Cardinals finally got to Berrios in the sixth inning. Kolten Wong drew a leadoff walk and Tommy Edman lined a two-run homer over the right-field wall.

Paul Goldschmidt followed with a single that chased Berrios from the game. Goldschmidt took second on a passed ball, moved to third on a groundout and scored on reliever Matt Wisler's wild pitch to cut the lead to 5-3.

But Sano's two-run homer off reliever Ryan Helsley in the seventh inning pushed the Twins' lead back to 7-3.

--Field Level Media