Twins 12, Indians 5: Alexi Casilla doubled, tripled and drove in four runs and Josh Willingham homered for the second straight night as host Minnesota beat up on Cleveland again.
Later Saturday, the Twins traded left-hander Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for shortstop Eduardo Escobar and minor league left-hander Pedro Hernandez.
Samuel Deduno (2-0) won his second straight start, yielding one run on only two hits in a career-high seven innings. He overcame five walks by striking out six.Ben Revere added three hits and two RBIs to to extend his hitting streak to 11 games for the Twins, who have outscored Cleveland 23-5 in the first two games of the series.
Denard Span contributed a two-run double to help Minnesota move out of last place in the American League Central for the first time since April 25.
Carlos Santana homered and drove in three runs for Cleveland, which has managed only seven hits in the two losses to drop below the .500 mark (50-51).
Indians starter Justin Masterson (7-9) retired the first 11 batters before the Twins erupted for 10 runs (eight earned) and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings against him.
Willingham's 27th homer in the fourth put the Twins on top 2-1. Casilla had a two-run triple in a three-run fifth and added a two-run double in a five-run sixth to blow the game open.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Twins 3B Danny Valencia had an RBI double in the third inning to snap an 0-for-28 skid dating to April 30. ... Minnesota 3B Trevor Plouffe (thumb) is scheduled to see a hand specialist Tuesday. He has not played since July 20 and was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday. ... Indians 2B Jason Kipnis assisted on the first five outs for his team, giving him a major league-leading 700. ... Willingham moved within two home runs of tying his career high set in 2011. He has four homers and 10 RBIs in his last four games.
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Justin Masterson | Player | Samuel Deduno |
Loss | W/L | Win |
5.2 | IP | 7.0 |
2 | Strikeouts | 6 |
7 | Hits | 2 |
12.71 | ERA | 1.29 |
Cleveland | Minnesota | |
Shin-Soo Choo | Player | Ben Revere |
1 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 4 |
.333 | Avg | .600 |