Tyler Freeman went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs as the Cleveland Guardians handed the visiting Minnesota Twins their fifth straight loss with Saturday’s 11-4 victory.
Roughly 24 hours after his eighth-inning, tiebreaking homer sent Cleveland to a 3-2 victory in Friday’s series opener, Jose Ramirez capped a 12-pitch at-bat with a two-run homer off Minnesota starter Bailey Ober (4-2) in the first inning to set the tone.
Ramirez finished with three hits and three RBIs on Saturday.
Freeman’s leadoff single in the first kicked off his career night, which included a two-run single during a four-run seventh for the Guardians, who have won five of their past six overall and are 12-3 in their past 15 home games.
Meanwhile, Cleveland starter Logan Allen (5-2) allowed five hits and a walk in six scoreless innings to further frustrate the Twins, who have been outscored 28-7 during their five-game slide. Allen struck out seven.
On Saturday, Minnesota didn’t score until the ninth. The Twins plated four runs in the inning, though, with Kyle Farmer’s two-RBI double headlining the outburst.
Ober was tagged for five runs and eight hits in four innings. He walked one and fanned four.
After Minnesota put runners on first and second with no outs in the first and failed to score, the Guardians didn’t let Ober off the hook in their half of the frame thanks to Freeman and Ramirez.
In the third, Freeman and Andres Gimenez (three hits, two RBIs) opened the inning with back-to-back singles, then Ramirez lined a run-scoring double into the right field corner. Josh Naylor followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Freeman’s two-out RBI double high off the left field wall in the fourth extended Cleveland’s lead to 5-0.
The Guardians added on in the fifth when David Fry was hit by Kody Funderburk’s pitch, stole second and scored on a two-out single from Will Brennan, who came home on Kyle Manzardo’s double.
Manuel Margot had three hits for Minnesota, which is 0-4 vs. Cleveland in 2024.
–Field Level Media
