Joe Mauer raced home with the winning run when Max Kepler’s comebacker ricocheted off pitcher Joe Colon’s glove in the 11th inning to give the Minnesota Twins a rain-delayed 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night. Minnesota entered play on Friday having scored 140 runs since June 18, the most in baseball.
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Bauer went 4-0 during that stretch with an ERA of just 2.10, lasting at least six innings and allowing no more than three earned runs each time out.
Carrasco hasn’t pitched against the Twins this season but struggled against them a year ago, going 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA in two starts against Minnesota in 2015. Ervin Santana starts tonight for the Twins against the Indians’ Carlos Carrasco.
But the Indians had runners on second and third with one out in the seventh and came up empty.
Lindor and Napoli got back-to-back one-out singles, and Ramirez followed by driving in Lindor with an RBI single to center field.
“We talked about who was affected more by a four-day layoff, but it’s tough to tell when pitching is good”, Twins manager Paul Molitor said.
The Indians will look to win this three-game set against the Twins on Sunday. The Indians have scored 16 runs in their last three games and four or more runs in six straight games. Gomes would once again hit the ball hard, but again right at a Twins fielder to end the inning.
Cleveland Indians’ Mike Napoli, left, slides safely to score on a wild pitch by Minnesota Twins’ Trevor May, right, during the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday, July 15, 2016, in Minneapolis. Jeff Manship, Bryan Shaw, and Cody Allen threw a flawless 2.1 innings, and finished off the victory. “I didn’t think we had a play at first, and instead of taking an out like a first baseman, just kind of short-armed it a little bit”.
Indians: After playing on Friday night in his rehab assignment, OF Michael Brantley was given the day off on Saturday.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The Twins are 21 games behind the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central standings. Francona said Brantley wanted to play as he works his way back from a right shoulder injury, but the training staff didn’t want to push it too early. He gave up a season-high five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. Minnesota won three of four in Arlington in its final weekend before the break, outscoring the Rangers 38-18 in the series.
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Twins RHP Kyle Gibson (2-5, 5.02 ERA) will face Indians RHP Josh Tomlin (9-2, 3.51) in the series finale.
