Greg Allen lofted a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning as the Cleveland Indians edged the host Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Carlos Santana began the winning rally when he singled with one out against Blake Parker (0-1). Santana advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches before Hanley Ramirez walked. Santana then trotted home after Allen flew out to center on a 2-0 pitch.
Jon Edwards (1-0) retired both batters he faced in the eighth to earn his first major league win in his 41st career appearance.
Brad Hand gave up a wind-blown leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth to Byron Buxton and loaded the bases via a pair of two-out walks to Nelson Cruz and Eddie Rosario before he closed out his first save by inducing C.J. Cron to fly out to right.
The teams combined for just six hits -- Ramirez was the only player with multiple hits -- in a pitcher's duel that featured one-hit efforts by starters Trevor Bauer and Jake Odorizzi.
The Indians' Bauer issued one walk and struck out nine over seven innings while the Twins' Odorizzi walked two and tied a career high by whiffing 11 over six innings. Odorizzi also struck out 11 while pitching against the Indians for the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9, 2014.
Neither starter allowed a hit until the fourth, when Ramirez homered with two outs to put the Indians ahead. Jorge Polanco tripled with one out in the bottom of the inning and scored on Cruz's ground out.
Odorizzi retired the final seven batters he faced and Bauer retired eight in a row heading into the seventh, when he walked the leadoff batter, Polanco, before plunking Cruz. But Bauer wriggled out of the jam by inducing Rosario to fly out to left and getting Cron to hit into a double play.
The teams have split the first two games of the season-opening three-game series.
--Field Level Media
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Trevor Bauer | Player | Jake Odorizzi |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
7.0 | IP | 6.0 |
9 | Strikeouts | 11 |
1 | Hits | 1 |
1.29 | ERA | 1.50 |
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Hanley Ramirez | Player | Byron Buxton |
2 | Hits | 1 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 2 |
1.000 | Avg | .333 |