Jose Ramirez and David Fry each belted a solo home run, and the Cleveland Guardians held on for a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.
Brayan Rocchio, Steven Kwan and Will Brennan added one RBI apiece for the Guardians, who earned a split in the four-game series. Cleveland won its second straight game after losing a season-worst seven in a row.
Byron Buxton went 2-for-4 with two homers and three RBIs to lead the Twins. Christian Vazquez finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee (10-4) allowed one run on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked none and struck out five.
Twins left-hander Caleb Thielbar (2-3) gave up three runs on one hit in two-thirds of an inning. He walked two, struck out one and surrendered Fry’s go-ahead home run.
Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth for his 35th save. He struck out Willi Castro and got Trevor Larnach to ground into a game-ending double play.
The Twins opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. Buxton drilled a 378-foot shot over the wall in left field.
In the fourth, Ramirez homered for the Guardians to even the score at 1-1. He worked a seven pitch at-bat that ended with a 372-foot blast to right-center field for his 31st homer.
The score remained tied until the sixth, when Cleveland scored four runs to grab the lead.
Fry started the scoring with a solo homer with one out. He hit a fastball 405 feet to left-center field for his 11th homer.
Rocchio, Kwan and Brennan added one RBI hit apiece during the inning as the Guardians increased their lead to 5-1. Rocchio singled to right, Kwan singled to left and Brennan doubled to center to each score a runner.
Minnesota trimmed the deficit to 5-3 in the eighth on Buxton’s second homer of the game and his 16th of the season. After Royce Lewis hit a one-out double to center, Buxton followed with a two-out blast to left for his third multi-homer game this season.
–Field Level Media
