Minnesota 5, Cleveland 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, July 16, 2016
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature:
78°
Umpires:
Home -
Chris Guccione, 1B -
David Rackley, 2B -
Alfonso Marquez, 3B -
Larry Vanover
Attendance:
29447
By The Sports Xchange
MINNEAPOLIS -- Max Kepler's walk-off fielder's choice grounder scored Joe Mauer from third base and lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 5-4 win over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night at Target Field.
After a 2-hour, 5-minute rain delay that left only a couple hundred fans in the stadium, the Twins loaded the bases against Indians reliever Joe Colon in the bottom of the 11th inning. Colon stabbed Kepler's comebacker to the mound behind his back and fielded the ball, but catcher Yan Gomes dropped the throw home, allowing Mauer to score.
Twins reliever Trevor May got the win after throwing just two pitches after taking over the in top half of the 11th after the delay forced the stoppage with two outs.
Cleveland took a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning before the Twins clawed back with one in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI double by Juan Centeno.
Jason Kipnis gave the Indians a 4-2 lead with an RBI single in the seventh inning before the Twins tied it with two runs in the bottom of the inning on a fielder's choice and an RBI single by Brian Dozier.
Carlos Santana paced the Cleveland offense with three hits and also knocked in a pair runs. Kipnis and Tyler Naquin each had two hits.
Eduardo Nunez, Kennys Vargas and Eddie Rosario each had two-hit nights for Minnesota and Dozier had two RBIs.
Duffey struggled out of the gate, allowing a leadoff single to Santana and walking two to load the bases with one out. Jose Ramirez lifted a sacrifice fly to medium deep center field, but Duffey was able to wiggle out of trouble by inducing an inning-ending groundout to short from Lonnie Chisenhall.
Minnesota loaded the bases against Bauer in the third but was able to get just one run on a sacrifice fly by Brian Dozier, tying the game at 1.
A single by Vargas and a double by Eddie Rosario to lead off the fourth put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. But a strikeout, a fielder's choice ground out and a chopper to first ended the inning without the Twins plating a run.
Cleveland got back-to-back singles to lead off the top of the fifth. After a sacrifice bunt moved both into scoring position, Santana ripped a double just inside the first-base bag, scoring both runners for a 3-1 lead.
NOTES: Indians RHP Danny Salazar was announced as the starting pitcher for Tuesday's game against the Kansas City Royals. The club decided to give Salazar extra rest after diagnosing him with mild elbow discomfort before the All-Star break. Salazar threw a bullpen on Friday and sustained no setbacks. ... Indians RHP Zach McAllister will begin a rehab assignment on Monday with Triple-A Columbus. He has been on the disabled list since July 7 with a sore right hip. ... Former Twins OF Torii Hunter was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame before the game on Saturday. He played 12 seasons with Minnesota from 1997 to 2007 and again in 2015, hitting .268 with 214 home runs and 792 RBIs. Drafted by the Twins in the first round in 1993, Hunter won five Gold Gove Awards and was a two-time All-Star before signing with the Angels in 2008.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Cleveland |
|
Minnesota |
Trevor Bauer
|
Player |
Tyler Duffey
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
6.0 |
IP |
6.1 |
6 |
Strikeouts |
2 |
7 |
Hits |
6 |
4.50 |
ERA |
5.68 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Cleveland
|
9 |
0 |
11 |
.231 |
19 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
Minnesota
|
10 |
0 |
15 |
.233 |
26 |
12 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
2 |