Minnesota posted a record of 32-56 in the first half, twenty games back of the Indians. Jose Ramirez then lined a single down the left field line, plating Lindor, and Napoli later scored on a fielder’s choice.
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“It’s a scary thing and when I saw it was a little kid, I wasn’t even thinking about baseball”, Napoli said.
The Indians would cap their scoring when Mike Napoli hit a fly ball that carried out of the park in the seventh inning, the very definition of a “big fly”. In the fourth inning he left a fastball in Brian Dozier’s nitro zone (up and in), and the Twins second baseman jerked it out of the park.
The American League Central cellar-dwelling Minnesota Twins haven’t had much reason to smile this season, but they sure are having fun at the expense of the first-place Cleveland Indians. On a 2-1 pitch, Max Kepler smacked a grounder up the middle that Colon back-handed and tossed home, but Yan Gomes couldn’t handle the throw, allowing Joe Mauer to score the winning run for Minnesota. The Indians have scored 16 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six straight games.
Santana, who has been the subject of trade rumors recently, is 2-0 with a 1.63 ERA in his last four starts, capped by a brilliant two-hit shutout of the Oakland Athletics his last time out on July 6. The Minnesota Twins offense has been crushing recently, and they’ve won eight of their last nine games when scoring more than three runs. But their bats were quiet on Friday as the season’s second half got underway.
The Indians added an insurance run when Napoli belted a 413-foot home run to center field.
Indians: After playing on Friday night in his rehab assignment, OF Michael Brantley was given the day off Saturday.
Sano made a couple of nifty plays with his arm, including a superb, barehanded pickup and strong throw to get Tyler Naquin in the second inning.
“I’d think we’re on the high end here (offensively) the last two or three weeks, and it’s been balanced”, Twins manager Paul Molitor told MLB.com. He allowed five runs against the New York Yankees in his final turn before the break, but four of the runs were unearned. Kyle Gibson (2-5) starts today’s 1:10 p-m game for the Twins.
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The Indians will look to win this three-game set against the Twins on Sunday.
