Sigh.
There was rain, there was drama, there were not many runs to speak of.
As has been the case for much of this series, the Twins had plenty of opportunities to score and could never capitalize. They went 3-14 with runners in scoring position, leaving 13 men on base, including the bases loaded in both the eighth. On to the depressing details!
It was a rough day for Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson. He only allowed two runs, but he was struggling to find the strike zone and finish off hitters, needing 98 pitches to get through 4.2 innings while walking five batters. The Guardians started the scoring in the first with SWR’s first walk coming around to score on a Kyle Manzardo RBI single. Woods Richardson also gave up a big fly to Big Christmas in the fourth, with those two runs luckily being the only ones he allowed.
The Twins countered in the second with a leadoff single from Ty France and double by Brooks Lee, but neither ultimately scored. France got another leadoff hit in the fourth inning, a double this time, but never moved off of second base. The Twins were finally able to break the seal in the seventh thanks to a Harrison Bader infield single and three straight base hits from Christian Vazquez, Edouard Julien, and Carlos Correa to bring the score even at 2 apiece.
Then came the eighth inning where the Twins had a chance to blow it open. A Bader double and Vazquez walk put two men on with two outs, but then the rain came and delayed the inning for over an hour. Facing a lefty, Ryan Jeffers came off the bench and walked for Julien to load the bases, but a Correa pop fly ended the threat there.
The drama came in the ninth inning, with Jhoan Duran striking out Jhonkensy Noel ahead of back-to-back singles Daniel Schneeman and Will Wilson, putting runners on the corners with one down. The Twins brought the infield in, allowing Wilson to take second on defensive indifference. Duran intentionally walked Nolan Jones after falling behind, then struck out Bo Naylor and Steven Kwan to escape the jam and send it to extras.
Minnesota was able to scrape across the ghost runner in the 10th, giving them their first lead of the night, but the Guardians walked it off in the bottom half of the inning to make the point moot. Thanks to Woods Richardson’s ineffectiveness, Rocco had already used Cole Sands, Louie Varland, Griffin Jax, and Duran just to get to the 10th inning. Brock Stewart had just been used in back-to-back games, leaving limited options in the ‘pen. Justin Topa came on and threw all of 12 pitches before the Guardians scored two to walk it off.
STUDS
- Ty France: 3-5, 1 2B
- Harrison Bader: 3-5, 1 2B
- The non-Topa relievers (Sands, Varland, Jax, Duran): 4.1 IP, 0 R, 7 K
DUDS
- Simeon Woods Richardson: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
- Justin Topa: 0.1 IP, 2 R, 1 BB
- Trevor Larnach: 0-4, 1 BB, 1 GIDP
- Kody Clemens: 0-3, .276 OPS on the season (come back soon Royce)
On to Boston!