Jorge Polanco’s run-scoring double in the seventh inning lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians on Friday in Minneapolis.
Polanco went 1-for-4, while Bailey Ober pitched six strong innings to lead the Twins to their third straight victory.
Will Brennan went 2-for-3 and Myles Straw went 2-for-4 for the Guardians, who went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position to lose for the third time in their past four games.
Ober and Cleveland’s Aaron Civale were dominant before turning the game over to their bullpens.
The Twins had just two runners advance past second base, while the Guardians didn’t have any as the teams combined for seven hits and seven strikeouts through five innings.
Civale allowed four hits to go along with four strikeouts and two walks before being relieved by Sam Hentges, who pitched a scoreless sixth.
Ober also allowed four hits with three strikeouts and no walks in six innings before Jovani Moran allowed two one-out singles in the seventh. But Brock Stewart (2-0) induced Straw to pop out to second and Amed Rosario to fly out to right to end the threat.
The Twins broke through in the seventh against Nick Sandlin (2-3), who gave up a leadoff double to left by Ryan Jeffers before striking out Willi Castro and walking Kyle Farmer.
Michael A. Taylor grounded into a fielder’s choice with Jeffers forced out at third, before Polanco lined a double off the right-field wall to score Farmer for a 1-0 lead.
The Guardians’ best chance came in the eighth. Stewart gave up a leadoff double to Steven Kwan but got Tyler Freeman to fly out to left before being relieved by closer Jhoan Duran.
Duran struck out Jose Ramirez before intentionally walking Josh Naylor and striking out Andres Gimenez with a 103.8 mph fastball to strand Kwan at second.
Duran worked around a two-out single to Straw in the ninth to pick up his eighth save of the season for the Twins, who will try to win the four-game series on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
