Guardians 5, Twins 2: So Close to .500, Yet So Far Away

[Sam Caulder]

Image courtesy of © Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober - 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K (74 pitches, 48 strikes (65% strikes))
Home Runs: Royce Lewis
Bottom 3 WPA: Kendry Rojas (-0.29), Trevor Larnach (-0.18), Alex Jackson (-0.15)
Win Probability Chart

The Twins entered Thursday afternoon's series finale against the Guardians with a chance to complete a three-game sweep and climb back to .500 for the first time since April 22. A victory also would have pulled Minnesota even with Cleveland in the AL Central standings.

Instead, the Guardians spoiled the opportunity. Despite a strong return from Bailey Ober and a brief fifth-inning rally, Cleveland used three home runs and a pair of late insurance runs to hand the Twins a 5-2 loss. Minnesota saw its four-game winning streak come to an end, but still walked away with a successful series after taking two of three from its division rival.

BAILEY OBER RETURNS WITH A STRONG FIVE INNINGS
Making his first start since May 30, Ober looked sharp from the opening pitch. The right-hander retired the Guardians in order in the first inning and needed just 15 pitches to navigate the frame. Outside of one mistake in the second, he consistently worked ahead in counts and generated plenty of weak contact. That lone mistake came against Gabriel Arias, who jumped on a first-pitch fastball and launched it into the bullpen for a solo homer, giving Cleveland an early 1-0 lead. Other than that swing, Ober was in complete control.

He struck out four batters over five innings while allowing just three hits and one walk, throwing 51 of his 74 pitches for strikes. Through four innings, he had needed only 51 pitches, and even after working around a two-on jam in the fifth, he exited having allowed just the lone run. With Ober making his first appearance since returning from the injured list, the Twins elected to lift him after five innings despite the modest pitch count. It was exactly the kind of outing Minnesota hoped to see from one of its key starters.

GAVIN WILLIAMS DOMINATES THE TWINS' OFFENSE
Unfortunately for the Twins, Cleveland starter Gavin Williams was just as impressive. Williams retired the first 12 Minnesota hitters he faced, striking out six over the first four innings while keeping the Twins completely off balance. Through four innings, Minnesota had yet to put a runner on base and had little answer for his upper-90s fastball and sharp breaking ball.

The perfect game finally disappeared in the fifth, when Royce Lewis dumped a two-strike bloop single into shallow right-center. That proved to be the spark the Twins desperately needed. Alan Roden followed with a walk, and then Williams plunked Luke Keaschall, suddenly loading the bases with one out. Tristan Gray came through, shooting a ground ball past Travis Bazzana at second base to score Lewis and tie the game at 1-1.

The Twins had a chance for much more. With the bases still loaded, Alex Jackson hit a ground ball that resulted in Roden being thrown out at the plate, and Trevor Larnach struck out to end the inning. Minnesota managed to erase the deficit, but leaving additional runs on the table would prove costly.

CLEVELAND RESPONDS IMMEDIATELY
The tie lasted less than one half-inning. Kendry Rojas, who had been recalled earlier in the day, entered in relief of Ober to begin the sixth. After recording the first out, Chase DeLauter turned on a fastball up in the zone and pulled it into the right-field seats for a go-ahead solo homer, putting the Guardians back in front 2-1.

An inning later, Cleveland created more separation. Rojas issued back-to-back one-out walks to Patrick Bailey and Steven Kwan before Rocchio lined a ball over Brooks Lee's head into left field. Both runners scored easily, stretching the Guardians' lead to three.

Lewis answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning. The third baseman crushed a 2-0 sweeper into the seats for his ninth home run of the season, cutting the deficit to 4-2 and briefly giving the Twins some life. But Minnesota's offense was unable to build on the momentum, managing just one baserunner over the final two innings.

GO MAKES HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT
Minnesota also received a memorable moment in the ninth inning when Woo-Suk Go made both his Twins and major league debut.

The outing began on a sour note as Patrick Bailey connected on a solo home run to push Cleveland's lead to 5-2. However, Go settled in nicely afterward, winning a 10-pitch battle against Steven Kwan for his first career major league strikeout before retiring Bazzana to end the inning. It wasn't the debut he'd envisioned, but finishing the inning with his first big-league strikeout gave the rookie something positive to build on.

Cade Smith then closed the door in the ninth, retiring the Twins in order to secure the victory for Cleveland. Minnesota's offense never found much consistency against Williams and the Guardians' bullpen, finishing with just four hits while striking out 13 times. Lewis accounted for half of those hits with a single and a solo homer, while Gray drove in the Twins' other run.

The loss prevented Minnesota from reaching .500 and drawing even with Cleveland in the division standings, but after winning the first two games of the series and extending its recent stretch of strong baseball, the Twins still leave the matchup with momentum as they head into their next series.

What’s Next?
The Twins continue their homestand tomorrow with the start of a three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels. Zebby Matthews will take the mound for the good guys, and the Angels have not yet announced who he’ll be facing off against. First pitch is set for 7:10 PM.

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon!

Bullpen Availability Chart

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[soyouresayingtheresachance]

Nice series win. 

Good return for Ober. 

Rojas didnt look great today. Go with a shaky debut. 

The offense was absent today. 

Let's go for another series win against the Angels!

[Nshore]

Ober, Rojas, and Go get recalibrated for future success.  And Cleveland had to throw the best of everything they have at the Twins to beat them.  It's a win.

[Danchat]

Hard to be upset at the lineup when they've hit so well, enough to somehow have the most runs in the American League. These kinds of games are going to happen.

As mentioned in an article, they need to commit to using Rojas as a starter or have him go fully into being a reliever. Being a 2-3 inning pitcher isn't a viable strategy going forward. That role makes more sense for a guy like Paredes, who doesn't have the upside Rojas does but has been decently effective in the majors so far. They fully committed on Morris to the bullpen and he's been great in the setup role, I'm not recommending doing that to Rojas but the option is there.

[Mike Sixel]

I have no idea how Ober is doing this.. nice series. 

[mikelink45]

Best news of the day was Ober's success.  I would prefer Parades over Orze, and I thought there was a type when I read GO - then remembered we had a new guy with that name.

[thelanges5]

Tough sledding when your top 4 hitters go 0-12 with 8ks. 
 

.500 or better record 

[Patzky]

28 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Tough sledding when your top 4 hitters go 0-12 with 8ks. 
 

.500 or better record 

A lineup with Buxton and Jeffers (for however long) should produce somewhere better. I feel Larnach is on the way out and his production lately is showing that.

[RpR]

[Peter]

Easily could’ve lost series had it not been for last night!!! 4-2 against Cleveland!!! I’ll take it!!  Not if but when we get over.500

[Jacksson]

27 outs available to be made.  14 were made off of strikeouts.  9 out of14 came from 4 players = Larnach = 2, Clemens =3, Bell =2, Lewis =2.  Mr. Rojas, don't unpack your bags or discard your street car ticket back to St. Paul; This is the Major Leagues - relievers don't come into a game and walk 3 batters in 2 innings.  You BLEW the game for Ober, for your teammates and for the fans.  Hey Shelton, he walks 2 in a row and you leave the guy in to face a RH batter when you did not have to.  You share the blame for this loss.

[Mike Sixel]

CLE literally walked how many guys  recently in relief? It happens. 

[h2oface]

If you only get 3 hits and take one walk, you will almost certainly be a victim of your own blowpen. 

While we can't yet celebrate reaching .500 again, we can celebrate the end of the annoying (imo) All Analyst Broadcasts. Or was it the  "ignore the game and rib each other broadcasts"? They sure think they are funny.  They sure forgot to do much analysis. It will be nice to see the whole screen with the game again. 

[USAFChief]

Rojas does not appear to me to be ready for the big leagues.

Ober topped out at 88.5...I'm not encouraged. 

Still and all, it was a beautiful day at TF.

[MMMordabito]

One loss away from being under .500 at the break. It's better than the 90 loss pace that I was expecting, I guess.

[Colbeh]

2 hours ago, Jacksson said:

This is the Major Leagues - relievers don't come into a game and walk 3 batters in 2 innings.  You BLEW the game for Ober, for your teammates and for the fans.  Hey Shelton, he walks 2 in a row and you leave the guy in to face a RH batter when you did not have to.  You share the blame for this loss.

Oh they absolutely do. 

Jhoan Duran walked 3 guys in 1 inning in May. Andrew Morris walked 3 in 0.2 innings earlier this year. Varland and Miller have each had a couple games of walking 2 guys in 1 inning (Averages out to 4 in 2 innings)

[h2oface]

4 hours ago, Jacksson said:

…..This is the Major Leagues - relievers don't come into a game and walk 3 batters in 2 innings.  You BLEW the game for Ober, for your teammates and for the fans.  Hey Shelton, he walks 2 in a row and you leave the guy in to face a RH batter when you did not have to.  You share the blame for this loss.

I guess you didn’t see the game just yesterday, and many others. It happens way too frequently. I’m just thankful Funderburk didn’t do the same thing. 

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Colbeh said:

Oh they absolutely do. 

Jhoan Duran walked 3 guys in 1 inning in May. Andrew Morris walked 3 in 0.2 innings earlier this year. Varland and Miller have each had a couple games of walking 2 guys in 1 inning (Averages out to 4 in 2 innings)

& then there’s Kody Funderburk’s exploits every other time he pitches he walks a couple guys.

[Blyleven2011]

So close 🤏 to 500 but no cigar  , wasn't meant to be today as our players ( offense and bullpen ) , there was plus and minus in todays game  ( ober threw 5 inning , the offense didnt wake up )...

Good winning series , now the angels next at home , lets have 3 good games and relax through the allstar break ...

I am enjoying the twins games ( after the past few years of brutal baseball  )

Lots of negativity on the twins daily and game threads , you just cant please everyone ( i know its because of the veterans that are past their prime , but the team is making changes and we'll see who has promise for next year  ),

Did i say I am enjoying the twins games this season more than the past few years ...

The team is playing good and winning their share and better than most expected ( thats improvement and good enough for me ) , but if they get into the playoffs , I'm sorry ,  it will be a 1 and done series going up against better pitching and better offenses  ...

More than Half the season has been played , in Minnesota it's always wait till next year , if we continue to play good baseball the remainder of the season , then my expectations will be much higher next season ...

For now I'm just going to watch the twins keep trying to improve and see who fits into their plans for 2027 ...

[Church of Kreidler]

Definitely a bummer to not sweep, but we won the series and that counts for a lot! With the Angels up next, I think that magic number I refuse to say for fear of jinxing it is very possible!

I was encouraged by what I saw of Go - yeah, he let that homerun through, which was a bummer, but he was pretty clean on the other batters. Hopefully he can provide us with some relief from the other relief pitchers!