Jose Ramirez clubbed a two-out, tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth inning as the host Cleveland Guardians handed the reeling Minnesota Twins their fourth straight defeat, 3-2 on Friday.
Moments after a video review overturned Andres Gimenez’s steal of second base, ultimately resulting in the inning’s second out, Ramirez took matters into his own hands.
Facing Twins reliever Jhoan Duran (0-1), who hadn’t allowed a run in seven innings over seven previous appearances this season, the Guardians star clubbed a curveball well into the right-field seats for the lead as the home crowd broke into a frenzy. It was Ramirez’s 10th homer of the season.
David Fry put Cleveland ahead 2-1 with a two-run homer — for his third hit of the night — in the sixth. Meanwhile, Triston McKenzie allowed a run, two hits and four walks in 6 2/3 innings as the Guardians won for the fourth time in five games — and improved to 3-0 against the Twins this season.
McKenzie struck out five.
Alex Kirilloff ended Minnesota’s 28-inning scoreless drought with a solo homer — his third of the season — in the third. Kyle Farmer’s pinch-hit RBI double that split the left-field gap tied the score at 2-2 in the eighth.
Simeon Woods Richardson allowed one run and four hits without a walk in 5 1/3 innings for the Twins, who have totaled three runs in the past four games. Woods Richardson fanned two.
Minnesota opened the scoring via Kirilloff’s third homer of the year, its first run since Ryan Jeffers went deep to lead off the bottom of the first inning of a 5-1 loss to the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
In the sixth, Woods Richardson allowed an infield single to Gimenez, who eventually stole second and moved to third on a throwing error by catcher Jeffers. Steven Okert replaced Woods Richardson, and it looked as if the Twins would get out of the inning unscathed when Gimenez was thrown out at the plate on Josh Naylor’s grounder to second baseman Edouard Julien.
However, Okert hung a pitch that Fry belted for his fourth homer, a shot to the left-field fan porch that gave Cleveland a 2-1 lead.
Tim Herrin (2-0) picked up the win after getting the last out of the top of the eighth — despite yielding Farmer’s tying double. Emmanuel Clase tossed a 1-2-3 ninth to record his 13th save.
–Field Level Media
