Twins 5, Guardians 4: Wait, the Twins Are Allowed to Win Series in Cleveland?

[Hans Birkeland]

Image courtesy of © David Dermer-Imagn Images

Box Score:
Bulk Pitcher: Kendry Rojas: 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (60 Pitches, 34 Strikes, 56.6%)
Home Runs: None
Top 3 WPA: Kody Clemens (0.23), Brooks Lee (0.18), Anthony Banda (0.11)
Win Probability Chart (Via BaseballSavant):

Well, the Twins won a close game in extra innings in Cleveland yesterday. That, alone, was a revelation, given the past four or five years of results. It also gave them a chance to take a series at Progressive Field for the first time since the 1990s (or so it's felt).

The starter would be Andrew Morris, but the bulk assignment fell on rookie Kendry Rojas. Morris, for his part, pitched an easy six-pitch scoreless first, with Rojas coming in to face the lefty-heavy Guardians lineup to start the second. Rojas has trouble throwing strikes, and that trend continued today, but he did show some reasons for optimism, including a nice changeup to strike out Angel Martínez in the second. His slider was sliding, and his sinker has some pop to it, so he has the makings of an effective major-league pitcher, but can he deliver on that promise in his rookie year?

The Twins lineup had to deal with big Gavin Williams, who has built upon his 2025 breakout. Hes always looked the part of a big-time prospect, but injuries and some poor luck delayed his takeoff for a couple of years. Last year', he was able to make 31 starts, and while he led the league in walks, he was extremely hard to hit, posting a 129 OPS+ with a .211 batting average against.

His heavy sinker/four-seam combo kept the Twins off-balance early, but Kody Clemens dunked a ball down the third-base line in the second for a Guardians Double™ and scored on a wild pitch for the game's first run. Ryan Jeffers scalded a ball through the middle that ended up getting all the way to the warning track for a leadoff double. Unfortunately, the Twins now employ Cold Josh Bell™ (not to be confused with the legendary Cool Papa Bell), who struck out in his sixth straight plate appearance to derail that potential rally.

Meanwhile, Rojas gave up three singles and a walk in the third, but managed to give up just a single run on a José Ramírez tapper up the middle. He was wobbly with his command, but showed some composure pitching in a tough environment, including striking out All-Star Steven Kwan with two men on to end the third. It was probably the worst swing I've seen Kwan take.

The fifth inning was the pivot point. Clemens led off with a more legitimate double, to the gap in right-center field at 105 MPH. Brooks Lee singled to bring home Clemens, and Royce Lewis showed some life by roping a double down the left-field line. Byron Buxton legged out a tapper to third base, and Bell broke out of his slump with a single up the middle to make the score 4-1. Austin Martin then continued his hot streak by staying with a fastball and flipping it to the opposite field to make it a four-run lead. 

Travis Adams took over for Rojas with one out in the fifth and got the second out pretty quickly. But he walked Kyle Manzardo, fell behind hitters, and allowed two more hits and a walk before striking out new catcher acquisition Patrick Bailey (who looked rough in his Guardians debut) with the bases full. Those bad Giants vibes will follow you, I guess.

Adams allowed another run in the sixth, but got Ramírez to pop out as the tying run before giving way to Anthony Banda, who was able to retire pinch-hitter Rhys Hoskins on a fly ball.

There was some Guardians Ball in the eighth, with David Fry singling and Bryan Rocchio dumping a broken-bat single into center off of righty Luis García. Kwan then bunted them over (on a 3-1 count, ouch) before Chase DeLauter grounded out to trim the lead to one. García was able to get Hoskins to ground out to preserve the lead.

Clemens led off the ninth inning with an opposite-field single, and was bunted to second by Lee (somewhat surprisingly). Clemens then stole third, but was left stranded with Lewis striking out and pinch-hitter Victor Caratini flying out to deep right field.

Yoendrys Gómez got the ninth, which speaks to some level of concern for Justin Topa, who hasn't pitched since Wednesday. Gómez, who has not had any sustained major-league success, threw strikes and looked good, working a 1-2-3 inning to secure the victory.

Things I'm Tracking:

-Brooks Lee looks like he may truly be part of the solution, delivering a couple hits with runners in scoring position. He even stole a base, despite looking like he was pumping his legs through molasses.

-Travis Adams made his debut and threw some good changeups, but was largely ineffective in allowing four hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings.

-Jeffers is setting himself up for a big payday this offseason, with his OPS now over .900 and having built a reputation as an elite ABS challenger.

-The Guardians may have found yet another demon in their relief corps, with Franco Aleman making his debut and pumping 99 MPH with deception. He allowed two singles but also went two scoreless in relief of Williams.

-The Twins' bullpen hierarchy is a mess, with two recent waiver claims taking the eighth and ninth innings protecting a slim lead. The options Derek Shelton has late in games are pretty brutal right now.

What’s Next: The Miami Marlins are in town, with electric young righty Eury Perez (2-4, 5.01 ERA) taking the mound against Bailey Ober (3-2, 4.19 ERA). It might be one of the tallest combined pitching matchups ever, with Perez standing 6'8", an inch shorter than Ober. The Marlins are league average on both sides of the ball in contrast to their recent past of being dependent on dominant pitching to sustain a nothing offense. They also are feisty, leading baseball in steals, so it will be an interesting test for the Twins at home.
Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Banda	0	20	22	0	19	61
Funderburk	17	0	22	10	0	49
Garcia	14	0	0	13	20	47
Rogers	0	26	0	17	0	43
Adams	0	0	0	0	43	43
Topa	32	0	0	0	0	32
Orze	0	0	16	15	0	31
Morris	14	0	0	11	6	31
Gómez	0	0	2	5	10	17

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[Peter]

3-3 road trip and huge series win against Cleveland!!! Brooke Lee was fantastic with season saving plays last night buxton also!!! Clemens has picked it up as well Royce!!! We have 2 closers with Garcia and Gomez!! Rojas is future starter!!! Great series win!!! 2 back in division 1 back of wild card!!! 

[thelanges5]

Interesting to see what they do with Rojas this week. Day off tomorrow, so Bradley‘s next start would’ve been next weekend.

Good weekend at Progressive Field makes the Washington series that much more painful.

So far, the twins have been losers on the bullpen carousel. Maybe Gómez is a guy that can stick?

[mark sills]

Andrew Morris 9 straight games with no runs in his first inning.

[jkcarew]

Twins win back-to-back one-run games against Cleveland, man bites dog…and other oddities…

[jkcarew]

11 minutes ago, Peter said:

3-3 road trip and huge series win against Cleveland!!! Brooke Lee was fantastic with season saving plays last night buxton also!!! Clemens has picked it up as well Royce!!! We have 2 closers with Garcia and Gomez!! Rojas is future starter!!! Great series win!!! 2 back in division 1 back of wild card!!! 

This never gets old 😂

[karcherd]

37 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Interesting to see what they do with Rojas this week. Day off tomorrow, so Bradley‘s next start would’ve been next weekend.

My guess is they will go with another bullpen day on Thursday, this will keep Rojas on his every fourth day schedule.  I read they want to push Preilepp back to manage his workload.  They are trying hard to bring the bulk pitching to the major leagues.  Soon we will have no starters or relievers here in the major leagues either.

[mark sills]

39 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Interesting to see what they do with Rojas this week. Day off tomorrow, so Bradley‘s next start would’ve been next weekend.

Good weekend at Progressive Field makes the Washington series that much more painful.

So far, the twins have been losers on the bullpen carousel. Maybe Gómez is a guy that can stick?

I'm betting back to st Paul and Zebby comes up.

[karcherd]

It was good to see Gomez get the save but let's pump the brakes on him being the new closer.  Maybe they found something here but we have seen this many times before and many times it has not worked out.

[Nshore]

All of the Central teams are already seemingly running on fumes - and it's not even 2 months into the season.

If by some miracle the Twins end up on top in this division, which is honestly (very) remotely possible, they should honor Shelton with the State Fair Seed Art Blue Ribbon or Nobel Peace Prize or something. 

Keep your eye on that waiver wire Jerry!

[JD-TWINS]

3 innings in a row starting out with lead-off doubles. Finally broke through with the 3rd opportunity………guys were clutch with 2 outs ……..Bell had 2 hits after striking out 6 times back to last night. Martin is quietly playing fantastic!

Clemens truly seems to be heading toward being a 1.0 WAR player……. will take it…….he seems more confident & comfortable at 1B.

BROOKS LEE!!