Cleveland Guardians vs Minnesota Twins Match Player Stats On Aug 17, 2021

Daniel Johnson hit a two-run homer and Eli Morgan pitched six shutout innings to earn the win as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Minnesota Twins, 3-1, on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.

Johnson had two hits and Yu Chang doubled and scored a run for the Indians, who evened the best-of-three series at a game apiece.

Morgan (2-5), who pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning, allowed three singles and walked two while striking out eight to earn his second major league win. His first came seven starts earlier on June 28 against Detroit.

Emmanuel Clase struck out two of the three batters he faced during a 1-2-3 ninth that saw him hit 100.3 mph or higher on the radar gun on nine cutters, including three at 101.6 mph, while garnering his 17th save.

Jorge Polanco had two hits for Minnesota, which had a three-game winning streak snapped while finishing 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Bailey Ober (1-2) suffered the loss.

The Twins missed a golden opportunity to take control of the game in the second inning when Josh Donaldson led off with a single and Luis Arraez and Mitch Garver followed with walks to load the bases. But Morgan got of the jam by striking out Miguel Sano and then getting Rob Refsnyder to hit into a 1-2-3 double play on a checked-swing comebacker.

Cleveland took a 2-0 lead in the fifth when Chang led off with a double off the bottom of the wall in right field and scored two pitches later on Johnson's third home run of the season, a 425-foot drive into the plaza behind the bleachers in right.

The Indians extended the lead to 3-0 with an unearned run in the sixth. Amed Rosario led off with a bloop single and then advanced to third when Jose Ramirez's hard grounder caromed off the arm of Sano for an error. Wilson Ramos followed with a sacrifice fly that Refsnyder caught while crashing into the wall in center. Refsnyder then whirled and threw to Andrelton Simmons, who doubled Ramirez off first.

The Twins managed just one run in the eighth despite once again loading the bases with no outs as reliever Trevor Stephan walked pinch hitter Nick Gordon, Max Kepler and Brent Rooker to open the inning. James Karinchak replaced Stephan and Polanco then drove in Gordon with a fielder's choice to make it 3-1. But Karinchak got out of the jam by striking out Donaldson and getting Arraez to ground out.

--Field Level Media