Cleveland Indians Fall to Cellar Dwelling Twins 6-3

The Cleveland Indians fell to the cellar dwelling Minnesota Twins this afternoon by a score of 6-3 in what turned out to be an chilly and rainy game. The win ended an eight-game losing streak for the Twins and was just their second since taking two in a row from the Indians back in April. The loss drops the Indians to 17-16 on the year.

Tribe starter Corey Kluber got off to another good start, working for scoreless innings before allowing a two-run home run to Twins backup catcher Juan Centeno (his first home run as a big leaguer) in the 5th inning. That gave the Twins a 2-1 lead. Kluber allowed another run in the 6th inning thanks to some poor defense behind him. Left fielder Rajai Davis misplayed a routine flyball that dropped for a hit after he broke back too far and slipped on the soggy grass. A groundball single and hit batter later loaded the bases for the Twins. Kluber was able to get Eddie Rosario to ground into what looked like a routine double play ball to shortstop Francisco Lindor to end the inning, but instead went as a Fielder’s Choice RBI as Rosario was able to beat the relay throw from Jason Kipnis.

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Kluber’s day was done after 6 2/3 innings after he allowed a fourth run in the 7th inning on a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Nunez. Kluber allowed the four “earned” runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out seven as well but still fell to 2-5 on the young season.

Tommy Hunter pitched well in relief of Kluber, going 1 1/3 perfect innings, retiring all four batters he faced. However, things were much different in the 9th inning for the Tribe’s bullpen. Left-hander Kyle Crockett began the innings but recorded only one out, which was a bit of a painful one as it came on a line drive off the bat of Joe Mauer that hit Crockett in the leg and richocetted to third baseman Jose Ramirez who threw to Napoli for the out. Unfortunately Crockett had already allowed a pair of a hits including an RBI single by Danny Santana. Right-hander Dan Otero came on in relief of Crockett but he too struggled. After getting the second out of the inning he allowed a pair of hits that resulted in the second Twins run of the inning to score, raising their lead to 6-2, which was more than enough given the Tribe’s struggles offensively…

The Indians managed just three runs on the day and were never really able to put enough together to ever have much of a rally. They did hold a brief 1-0 lead after Jose Ramirez blooped an RBI single to left field scoring Mike Napoli. That was, however, the only run the Indians were able to muster off Twins starter Ervin Santana who pitched six innings, allowing just the one run on five hits and striking out five.

The only real threat the Indians had was in the bottom of the 8th when they scored a run off Twins reliever Ryan Pressly and had runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs and Napoli at the plate. However, Pressly was able to get Napoli to strikeout, ending the threat and ultimately the Tribe’s chances in the game. Catcher Yan Gomes was able to add an extra run in the 9th inning on a solo home run to left but it was too little too late.

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The Indians and Twins will square off again tomorrow afternoon (1:10 pm) in the rubbermatch of the series. The Indians will look to take the series behind Trevor Bauer who is coming off his best start of the season in Houston. In that start, Bauer went seven shutout innings allowing just three hits and striking out seven. The Twins will send out righty Tyler Duffey who is 0-2 with a 2.60 ERA in three starts this year after beginning the season in Triple-A.

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