Twins takeaways: In familiar fashion, Minnesota falls in another Cleveland walk-off

Sports

add

CLEVELAND — The Minnesota Twins found themselves in a position they’ve recently been in way too often Thursday evening, watching their opponents walk them off once again at Progressive Field.

Run-scoring singles by José Ramírez and Angel Martínez ended a dismally long, rain-soaked contest, lifting the Cleveland Guardians to a 4-3 victory over the Twins in 10 innings, their 12th straight one-run victory in Cleveland over their division rivals.

And for the umpteenth time, one of the big drivers for another Twins late loss in Cleveland was, of course, their own shortcomings.

The Guardians undoubtedly are a very good team, one that has reached the postseason three times in five years and won the division five times in nine years. But much of their success and the way they’ve separated themselves from the Twins over the years is victories like these, ones in which the road team plays well enough to walk out of the park with a win only to have it snatched away.

Thursday, the Twins provided the opportunity for another Guardians heartbreaker by failing to capitalize on their own chances. Twins batters went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 runners including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth innings.

“Opportunities were abundant,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We were on the bases basically the whole day, and we’ve been here all day. … Of course, it’s going to get a little frustrating at times when you’re not bringing them home. But we have to keep plugging and working hard and getting those base runners out there and trusting that our guys are going to bring them home.”

Even though the Twins put 20 of 22 balls in play against Cleveland starter Ben Lively, they didn’t score against him in 5 2/3 innings.

Ty France and Brooks Lee gave them their best chance in the second inning when France singled and Lee doubled with no outs. But with the contact play on, Harrison Bader hit a grounder directly at third baseman Will Wilson, who threw home to cut down France. Kody Clemens struck out on three pitches, and Christían Vázquez grounded out.

France’s leadoff double in the fourth, one of his three hits, provided another opportunity to be wasted.

But the bigger whiffs came in the seventh and eighth innings. Batting with runners on the corners with a tied score, Byron Buxton struck out against reliever Hunter Gaddis. After Trevor Larnach walked, France lined out to right with the bases loaded to end the inning.

C4 ties it up 💪 pic.twitter.com/KLXf3RHJfA

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) May 1, 2025

An inning — and 126 minutes of a rain delay — after he tied the score with an RBI single, Correa batted with two outs in the top of the eighth inning against reliever Tim Herrin. Correa fouled off three two-strike pitches before popping out to end the inning.

Buxton’s leadoff single in the ninth inning was erased by a double play, and the Twins only scored once in the 10th on Jonah Bride’s sac fly.

“It was definitely a weird day,” Correa said. “It just seems like we keep falling short playing here. … I don’t think we’re playing terrible baseball. I think we’re right there, but we’ve got to figure out a way to get those W’s.”

At this point, Cleveland is well accustomed to pulling out victories over the Twins at home. Thursday’s was its 19th win in 27 meetings here against the Twins since the start of 2022 despite being outscored 118-102.

It also marked the eighth time it has walked off the Twins in that span, the most against another team by anyone in baseball.

With the Twins leading 3-2, Justin Topa took over and quickly got ahead of Gabriel Arias 0-2 in the count. But Arias hit a grounder to second and advanced the tying run to third.

The Twins elected to face Ramírez, who to that point was 3-for-15 in the series, including 0-for-4 on Thursday. Predictably, Ramírez ripped a 1-1 pitch for a score-tying single. His stolen base, the 250th of his career, led to an intentional walk for Tuesday’s walk-off hero Kyle Manzardo and set the stage for Martínez, who ripped an 0-2 changeup for the game-winning hit.

“We’re playing good baseball,” France said. “It’s not like we’re letting it beat us up or bury us. We do need to win these games, but we’re playing good baseball. … They’re a good, scrappy baseball team. They just find ways to get the job done, and that’s what good teams do. To take that next step, we’ve got to start winning these games.”

At this point, the Twins need to figure out how to convert their missed opportunities before it’s too late.

Here are several other takeaways from a vibe-killing series in Cleveland:

• Injuries to position players continue to cost the Twins and have left them in a difficult spot of using on-the-fly pickups in key spots. At full strength, the Twins would likely only roster one of Mickey Gasper, Koby Clemens and Jonah Bride, who has looked pretty good since coming over in a trade from the Miami Marlins last month.

But with games on 13 straight days, there are times when the Twins have needed to play at least two of the players at once. With Matt Wallner, Luke Keaschall, Austin Martin, Jose Miranda, Royce Lewis and Willi Castro all injured, the Twins have been forced to bat Gasper in the leadoff spot and have Clemens take key at-bats in Cleveland, which led to negative production. The trio will continue on for at least another game or two, perhaps even three. Out with a right oblique injury, Castro is close to returning but is still not ready. Meanwhile, Lewis isn’t expected back until Tuesday.

• Bader continues to make his switch to left field look extremely easy. He made another dazzling catch to rob Steven Kwan of a hit in the third inning after Simeon Woods Richardson issued a leadoff walk to Austin Hedges. Bader was named the American League defensive player of the month by Sports Info Solutions earlier in the day after producing 7 Total Runs Saved in April. Bader’s also been one of the team’s better hitters, producing a .765 OPS through Thursday after a 3-for-5 showing.

• Tuesday’s 190-minute rain delay was an absolute joke and completely avoidable. Cleveland knew rain was forecast to arrive sometime between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Working with a short-handed bullpen, the Guardians didn’t want to start the game, have it rain and burn starting pitcher Tanner Bibee’s outing.

Yet in a similar scenario Sept. 13, 2019, Cleveland started a game with heavy rain in the forecast knowing the Twins were using one of their best arms (Jake Odorizzi) in a key matchup. The game began, rain fell two innings in, and Odorizzi’s start was wiped out, which left the Twins in a bind. During the next day’s key doubleheader, one they managed to sweep anyway, the Twins were forced to use Devin Smeltzer and Lewis Thorpe.

Not only did it not rain a drop during the first portion of Tuesday’s rain delay, which lasted well over two hours, but also precipitation began to fall after the grounds crew removed the tarp and then rushed it back on to a chorus of boos from the home crowd. In all, it rained about five minutes during the 3:10 delay.

Thursday’s game, which included two rain delays totaling 2 hours, 23 minutes, was the sixth contest the Twins have played this season affected by weather.

(Photo of Gabriel Arias and Ty France: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

NBA playoffs: Jalen Brunson hits game-winning 3-pointer to close out Knicks’ first-round series win over Pistons

Sports

Next

trending_flat

2025 NBA playoff bracket: Matchups, schedule, game times as Knicks advance, Lakers get knocked out

Sports