Field Level Media
May 31, 2018
Francisco Lindor went 4-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs, including the tiebreaking blast in the eighth inning, as the Cleveland Indians notched a 9-8 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday night at Target Field in Minneapolis.
Jose Ramirez also went deep as the Indians recorded their sixth straight victory. Ramirez and Jason Kipnis each had two hits for Cleveland, and Melky Cabrera drove in two runs.
Miguel Sano slugged a tying three-run homer in the seventh inning for Minnesota, which recovered from an 8-0 deficit. Logan Morrison and Eduardo Escobar hit back-to-back homers in the sixth inning, but the Twins still lost for the seventh time in eight games.
Lindor's decisive homer was a 425-shot to center off right-hander Addison Reed (1-4) with one out in the eighth. The shortstop also doubled twice.
Left-hander Tyler Olson (1-1) recorded the final two outs in the seventh. Right-handed closer Cody Allen got the last four outs -- including two strikeouts in the ninth -- for his ninth save.
Minnesota tied the contest at 8 with four runs in the seventh inning.
The Twins moved within 8-5 on Eddie Rosario's RBI single to right. Right-hander Zach McAllister entered and served up the three-run homer to Sano, who slugged the ball over the right field fence to knot the score.
Indians right-hander Shane Bieber received a no-decision in his major league debut despite leaving with an 8-4 lead.
Bieber allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus earlier in the day. He struck out six and walked one.
Twins right-hander Jake Odorizzi was rocked for eight runs (seven earned) and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Bieber didn't allow a run over his first four innings faltering in the fifth and sixth innings. After serving up the homers to Morrison and Escobar, Bieber then gave up a single to Max Kepler and was removed from the contest.
The Indians gave Bieber three runs to work with in the top of the first. Edwin Encarnacion doubled in the first run, Yonder Alonso singled home the second and Cabrera's sacrifice fly to right made it 3-0.
Kipnis doubled to start the fourth and Greg Allen drew a one-out walk before Lindor launched a high three-run blast into the seats in right to make it 6-0. Ramirez homered to right two batters later and Cabrera had an RBI single to make it an eight-run margin.
Minnesota tallied two runs in the fifth as Robbie Grossman and Ryan LaMarre delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles.
--Field Level Media