Twins 2, Guardians 1: Cleveland Rocks, But Buxton And The Twins Rolled to Victory!

Box Score
SP: Joe Ryan 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (107 pitches, 66 strikes (62%))
Home Runs: Byron Buxton (13)
Top 3 WPA (via FanGraphs): Eric Orze (0,48), Ryan (0.22), Luis Garcia (0.20)

Win Probability Chart (via BaseballSavant) 

On the day that Taj Bradley found his way onto the IL, the Twins hoped that Joe Ryan's return to the rotation and avoidance of the IL wasn't just a mirage. After losing three in a row and finding themselves once again in the basement of the AL Central, Minnesota could not afford to lose another winnable game to the Guardians on Saturday night against a winless Tanner Bibee. The chance of thunderstorms delayed the inevitable by two hours, but baseball was played, and a result that no Twins fans expected transpired in Rock and Roll City.

Buxton Rocks
Byron Buxton waited and waited to get his chance to lead off against Bibee, but it only took three pitches before Byron and the Twins were out in front 1-0. Lead off homerun number 22, and homerun number 13 on the season, for number 25!

Ryan Also Rocks, Even on the Rocks
With the Twins' offense silenced after Buxton's homer, the pressure fell on the ace shoulders of Ryan to keep Cleveland off the board. Joe delivered consistently and efficiently in the early innings, allowing just a walk over the first three frames on only 41 pitches. The fourth inning was less efficient and definitely not as clean, as Jose Ramirez golfed a one-out single into center, stole second base, and scampered home to tie the game on a Kyle Manzardo single. A walk and a beanball created a bases loaded situation, but Ryan was able to deliver two straight strike outs to escape the inning with minimal damage. 

The elevated pitch count of the fourth ended up limiting Ryan to six innings on a whopping 107 pitches, but he kept the score knotted at one, which was necessary due to the fact that the Twins didn't muster any more hits after Buxton's blast. The Twins bullepn held serve through the seventh and eighth innings, with a couple of mammoth fly balls causing small panic attacks, but without any actual injury.

Rocking and Rolling Into the Ninth
After eight innings, the two squads had combined for three hits, two runs, and 21 strikeouts. To say the action was limited would be an understatement. The Twins hoped that red-hot Brooks Lee would be their key to the top of the ninth, but Brooks watched a 3-2 fastball go down the heart of the plate, and pinch-hitting Austin Martin and Josh Bell couldn't do anything to break the tie.

Kody Funderburk started off the bottom of the ninth with two walks, and almost disasterously missed a chance to get the first out on a bunt. The Twins successfully challenged the call, and found themselves facing runners at second and third with only one out. Derek Shelton pulled Funderburk for Eric Orze, brought in Martin as a fifth infielder, and intentionally walked David Fry to load the bases. Orze induced a grounder to Luke Keaschall, and he nabbed the lead runner at the plate. Steven Kwan was next man up, and Orze was miraculously up to the challenge! Kody Clemens secured yet another three unassisted on the night to send us to bonus baseball!

Extra Innings, Twins 
In the top of the tenth, the Twins were still looking for their second hit of the ballgame. They headed to the bottom of the tenth without finding it. Orze stayed in, and got the first out on a liner to Clemens. After intentionally and wisely walking Ramirez, Orze unintentionally walked Rhys Hoskins to load the bases. Again, Shelton brought in the fifth infielder, and this time it was Lee's turn to save the game.

Orze still had to get rookie phenom Travis Bazzana to keep the Twins alive, and he did just that by inducing a fly out to a left-field-playing-again Martin to send us to the eleventh.

Buxton still had the only hit of the night for the visiting team. Matt Wallner started out the eleventh as the ghost runner, and advanced to third on a "get him over" grounder by Royce Lewis. This brought up the aforementioned Buxton in a big spot. By the end of the at-bat, Buxton was still the only Twin with a hit on the night...but now it was "two." 2-1 Twins on a booming Buxton double off the left-field wall!

Buxton was stranded in scoring position, and Twins fans hoped that this wouldn't come back to bite them as the much-maligned Luis Garcia got "last man standing" duty in the bottom of the eleventh with the speedy Bazzana on second as the ghost runner. Garcia got the first man with a shallow fly ball, but Bazzana stole third anyways. Fry flew out to an even shallower left field for the second out, and Garcia got Rocchio to two strikes. But Rocchio hit the kind of back-breaking seeing-eye grounder up the middle that Twins fans have seen year, after year, after year, after...oh wait! Brooks Lee equals Ballgame now!

What’s Next?
The Twins look to steal the series in Cleveland in a Sunday afternoon tilt. Twins reliever Andrew Morris will open things up and an assortment of bullpen arms will aim to fill Bradley's shoes on Sunday. The Guardians will counter with righty Gavin Williams (5-2, 3.28 ERA) in hopes of reclaiming their home-field advantage versus Minnesota. First pitch is scheduled for 12:40pm CDT with no rain in sight for once!

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