Andres Gimenez drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th inning and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes each homered for Cleveland, which won for the 16th time in its past 20 games. Oscar Gonzalez also drove in a run for the Guardians.
Luis Arraez finished 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs to lead the Twins, who took their third loss in four games. Alex Kirilloff went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Guardians right-hander Trevor Stephan (3-2) struck out three in a scoreless 10th inning to earn the win.
Emmanuel Clase earned his 16th save for Cleveland. The 24-year-old right-hander needed only six pitches, five of which were strikes, to close out the game.
Twins right-hander Griffin Jax (4-1) took the loss out of the bullpen after giving up the deciding run.
After neither team scored in the 10th, Cleveland grabbed a lead in the 11th. With one out, Gimenez singled to center field to drive in Gonzalez, the designated runner, from second base.
The Guardians opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Gonzalez hit a two-out double to right-center field to drive in Steven Kwan, who had reached on a leadoff single and moved to second on Amed Rosario’s single.
Naylor added a two-run home run in the third to increase Cleveland’s lead to 3-0. It was his eighth long ball, matching the career high he set as a rookie in 2019 with the San Diego Padres.
The Twins trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the fourth. Max Kepler singled, Gary Sanchez walked and Kirilloff drove in both with a two-out double to deep center field.
In the seventh, Minnesota grabbed a 5-3 lead on Arraez’s three-run blast off Eli Morgan. He pulled a 75 mph changeup over the wall in right field for his fourth homer this season and his third this month.
The Twins’ advantage did not last for long. Reyes belted a two-out, two-run homer for Cleveland in the top of the eighth to even the score at 5-5. It was the fourth homer of the season for Reyes, who was playing in his first game since May 24 in his return from a hamstring injury.
–Field Level Media
