Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Guardians Match Player Stats On Jul 14, 2019

Carlos Santana belted a go-ahead solo homer with two outs in the seventh inning as the host Cleveland Indians averted a series sweep with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

Jose Ramirez ripped a two-out RBI double in the first inning and Greg Allen and Tyler Naquin each had run-scoring singles in the fourth for the Indians, who have won seven of their last nine games.

Marwin Gonzalez highlighted his three-hit performance with an RBI single and Max Kepler also drove in a run for the Twins, who saw their lead in the American League Central dip to 6 1/2 games over Cleveland.

After Minnesota scored three runs in the top of the seventh to forge a tie, Santana answered in the bottom of the inning by depositing an 0-2 curveball from Trevor May (3-2) over the wall in right field.

Santana's team-leading 21st homer made a winner out of Adam Cimber (5-2), who struck out Nelson Cruz with the bases loaded to end the seventh inning and fanned Miguel Sano with a runner on third to finish the eighth.

Minneapolis native Brad Hand overcame second baseman Jason Kipnis' error to strike out the final three batters of the ninth inning to record his 24th save.

All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Shane Bieber coasted through the first six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Bieber issued a leadoff walk to Luis Arraez and hit Mitch Garver with a pitch, although replays showed that the ball caromed off the knob of the bat. Gonzalez followed by slapping an RBI single and rookie Jake Cave was later hit by a pitch to trim Cleveland's lead to 3-2. Kepler's bloop RBI single to center field off reliever Oliver Perez tied the game.

Cleveland opened the scoring in the first inning after Ramirez ripped a 2-2 fastball from Jose Berrios down the right-field line to plate Santana.

Allen made amends for failing to execute a sacrifice bunt in the fourth by slapping an RBI single up the middle to score Jake Bauers. Allen advanced to second on a groundout before racing home on Naquin's sharp single up the middle to give the Indians a 3-0 advantage.

--Field Level Media