Field Level Media
Jun 15, 2018
Kyle Gibson won for the first time in 2 1/2 months Friday night, and Minnesota took advantage of a rare hiccup by Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber, who had a pair of historic streaks come to a halt in the visiting Twins' 6-3 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Progressive Field.
The Twins snapped a two-game losing streak with their fourth win in the last 10 games. The Indians have lost three of four.
Gibson (2-4) allowed one run on three hits and four walks while striking out three over seven innings to earn his first victory since his season debut on Mar. 31. He was 0-4 over his subsequent 12 starts despite a 3.75 ERA.
The Twins surprisingly provided Gibson plenty of offense against Kluber, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner. Eddie Rosario homered in the first inning for Minnesota, which added three runs in the fourth when Rosario scored on an error by Francisco Lindor and Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer.
Kluber (10-3) allowed four runs on four hits and one walk while striking out a season-low three over a season-low five innings. The four runs were the most Kluber has given up since last July 29, an AL-record span of 26 consecutive starts.
In addition, Kluber's fourth-inning walk of Eduardo Escobar was the first free pass Kluber issued in 46 1/3 innings, the longest streak in the majors since Bartolo Colon went 48 1/3 innings without giving up a walk for the New York Mets in 2015 and the longest streak by an Indians pitcher since Paul Byrd's 48-inning run in 2007.
The Twins took advantage of mistakes by the Indians to add a pair of insurance runs in the sixth, when Escobar scored on another error by Lindor and Logan Morrison trotted home on a balk by Dan Otero.
Yan Gomes had a run-scoring single in the sixth and homered in the ninth for the Indians, who scored their final run on Erik Gonzalez's RBI double before Fernando Rodney recorded the final out to earn his 15th save.
--Field Level Media