Max Kepler and Marwin Gonzalez homered, and Jake Odorizzi pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings to pick up his 13th win as the Minnesota Twins reclaimed sole possession of first place in the AL Central with a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
Luis Arraez had an RBI triple, and Ehire Adrianza and Jorge Polanco each had two hits for Minnesota, which snapped a season-long four-game losing streak.
Odorizzi (13-5) gave up six hits and four walks while striking out six. Odorizzi has allowed just 10 hits and two runs while striking out 19 in 17 innings in three starts against Cleveland this season..
Taylor Rogers gave up one hit while striking out two over the final two innings to earn his 18th save.
Yasiel Puig went 3-for-4 with a home run and also threw out a runner at the plate for Cleveland, which went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. It was just the 17th loss in the last 58 games for the Indians, who had overcome an 11 1/2-game deficit to move into a tie for first place on Friday night.
Adam Plutko (4-3) allowed four runs on nine hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out three.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Mitch Garver hit a two-out double down the left field line and scored on a triple by Arraez off the wall in right-center. C.J. Cron then singled in Arraez. It marked the first time in 40 innings that the Twins had taken a lead in a game.
Kepler led off the bottom of the fifth with his 32nd homer of the season, a 355-foot opposite-field drive into the flower bed in left.
Cleveland cut it to 3-1 in the seventh on Puig's first home run with the Indians and 23rd of the season, a towering 455-foot drive deep into the second deck in left-center.
Gonzalez put the Twins back up 4-1 in the bottom half of the inning with his 13th homer of the season, a 414-foot shot to the back of the bullpen in left-center.
--Field Level Media
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Adam Plutko | Player | Jake Odorizzi |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 5.2 |
3 | Strikeouts | 6 |
9 | Hits | 6 |
6.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Yasiel Puig | Player | Ehire Adrianza |
3 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
7 | TB | 2 |
.750 | Avg | 1.000 |