Nick Blackburn retired the final 14 hitters he faced and Jose Morales had three RBIs, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.
The Twins, who clinched the American League Central title Tuesday night, played the game with most of their regulars on the bench. Center fielder Denard Span, designated hitter Jason Kubel and third baseman Danny Valencia were the only everyday players in the lineup.
Blackburn (10-10), pitching for a spot in the postseason rotation, gave up a run in the first on Shelley Duncan's RBI single, but didn't allow a base runner after a one-out walk to Travis Hafner in the third. Blackburn gave up five hits, walked two and struck out two.
The Twins were quiet through five innings before consecutive run-scoring hits with two outs by Morales, Matt Tolbert and Ben Revere erased Cleveland's 1-0 lead. Morales added a two-run single in the seventh and Alexi Casilla had three hits, helping the Twins to a three-game sweep.
Carlos Carrasco (1-1) took a one-hit shutout into the sixth before the Twins finally got going. Casilla led off with a single and stole second. Morales' double tied the game before Tolbert's double gave Minnesota the lead. Revere's single made it 3-1.
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Carlos Carrasco | Player | Nick Blackburn |
Loss | W/L | Win |
6.0 | IP | 7.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 2 |
6 | Hits | 5 |
4.50 | ERA | 1.29 |
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Travis Hafner | Player | Alexi Casilla |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 5 |
.667 | Avg | .750 |