Field Level Media
Sep 13, 2020
Marwin Gonzalez homered and drove in three runs, and Nelson Cruz crushed his 16th home run as the Minnesota Twins completed a three-game series sweep of the Cleveland Indians with a 7-5 victory Sunday in Minneapolis.
Ryan Jeffers and Josh Donaldson also went deep for Minnesota (30-18), which won for the 10th time in 12 games this month, amassing 25 home runs during the span. The Twins finished with 11 homers in the weekend sweep of the Indians, including nine in the last two games.
Caleb Thielbar (2-0) picked up the win in relief of Michael Pineda, who left after 4 2/3 innings after allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out eight. Sergio Romo, back after serving a one-game suspension for getting into a shouting match with Francisco Lindor in Friday's opener, pitched around a pair of singles in the ninth to garner his fourth save.
Carlos Santana had three hits and two RBIs, Cesar Hernandez went 3 for 5 with a run scored, and Lindor went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI for Cleveland (26-21). Jose Ramirez also had two hits for the Indians, who lost their sixth consecutive game.
Triston McKenzie (2-1) suffered his first major league loss after allowing three hits -- all homers -- and five runs over 4 1/3 innings. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out seven.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the first when Lindor singled, went to second on a bunt single by Hernandez and scored one out later on a bloop single by Santana.
The Indians extended their lead to 3-0 in the third on an RBI single by Santana and a sacrifice fly by Franmil Reyes.
The Twins cut it to 3-2 in the bottom of the third inning on a two-run homer by Gonzalez and then tied it an inning later on Cruz's 410-foot drive into the bullpen in left-center.
Minnesota took a 6-3 lead in the fifth a two-run homer by Jeffers followed one out later by Donaldson's fourth home run of the season.
The Indians closed to 6-4 on a sacrifice fly by Lindor in the sixth, but Minnesota answered with a sacrifice fly by Gonzalez in the bottom of the inning.
Sandy Leon made it 7-5 and ended the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, driving in Tyler Naquin, who led off the inning with a double off the top of the right-field wall.
--Field Level Media