MINNEAPOLIS – David Fry and José Ramírez each hit a home run and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Minnesota Twins 5-3 on Sunday to tie the four-game series between the AL Central’s top two teams.
The Guardians won their second straight after losing seven straight games and now lead Minnesota by 3 1/2 games. Kansas City is four games back.
Emmanuel Clase threw a shaky ninth inning for his 35th save when Minnesota had the bases loaded with no outs, but Willi Castro struck out on a full count and Trevor Larnach got a groundball into a double play that started with a long-range backhand stop by second baseman Andrés Giménez.
“In this AB I wanted to throw him a ground ball. I was lucky that I managed to do it and I always have 100 percent confidence in him,” Clase said through an interpreter.
Cleveland has suffered a rare setback this season, but has recovered well in the series after losing the doubleheader on Friday.
“To come back and win the next two, even the last inning where they had all the bases loaded and no outs to get out of there, was really cool,” Fry said.
Byron Buxton hit two home runs for Minnesota, which fell to 2-7 against Cleveland this year.
Manager Rocco Baldelli is pleased with the Twins’ performance in the four games.
“We had several innings where we hit the ball all over the stadium and ended up not scoring any runs,” he said. “Stuff where you think it’s almost impossible not to score any runs. In most cases, it’s not that our guys did anything wrong, they just hit the ball too hard and hit it right at people. If one or two of those runs come into play, we’re in a good position.”
The Guardians won the game with a four-run inning in the sixth inning. With one out, Fry hit a home run against Caleb Thielbar (2-3), just his third extra-base hit in 27 games. Before hitting the 405-footer to the left of the bullpen, the American League All-Star was in a 4-for-32 slow slump.
“He’s a warrior, he’s been through a lot of situations,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “When he’s at his best, he drives the ball through the middle and if you make a mistake, he makes one. That was a big moment for us.”
A broken-bat single by Brayan Rocchio and a seeing-eye single through the hole by Steven Kwan each scored runs, as did a double by Will Brennan for a 5-1 lead. It’s the first time in six games that Cleveland has scored more than three runs.
Tanner Bibee (10-4) made his first start in 13 days for the Guardians, but missed his final rotation appearance because of right shoulder soreness. He gave up six hits and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. Cleveland is 18-5 this season when Bibee starts.
Buxton, who has gone 3-of-35 in his last 13 games against Cleveland since June 29, 2022, hit a home run in the second inning, but Ramírez hit a home run into the second row of seats in right to tie the game in the fourth inning.
Buxton hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning against Nick Sandlin, making it his third multi-home run game of the year.
In his sixth career start, Minnesota’s David Festa allowed one earned run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings, but he allowed three walks and was taken off the field after throwing 70 pitches. Last Monday against the Cubs, he allowed two hits and had a career-high nine strikeouts in five innings.
DEEP IN THE COUNT
After Fry’s home run, Giménez managed a 14-pitch walk and Daniel Schneemann followed with an 8-pitch walk.
“We’ve been moving away from that lately and letting the guys work and let them take one pitch at a time. That was one of the best at-bats Gimi has had all year,” Vogt said.
Next
Guardians: RHP Ben Lively (10-7, 3.59) will start Monday’s home game against Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (9-2, 3.06).
Twins: RHP Pablo López (10-8, 4.74) is scheduled to start at home on Monday against Kansas City RHP Brady Singer (8-7, 3.03).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
