Andres Gimenez and Myles Straw each drove in runs in the top of the 10th inning as the Cleveland Guardians beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Cleveland broke a 1-1 tie when Gimenez’s leadoff double off the right-field wall scored Ernie Clement, pinch-running for automatic runner Franmil Reyes, from second base. The Guardians added an insurance run on Straw’s two-out, RBI single off Jharel Cotton (0-1).
Guardians reliever Nick Sandlin (3-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win. Emmanuel Clase allowed a run in the bottom of the 10th before securing his seventh save.
Gio Urshela homered for Minnesota and delivered a one-out, run-scoring single in the bottom of the 10th. Clase struck out Nick Gordon with two runners on to end the game.
Twins starter Devin Smeltzer tossed five innings of one-run ball in his season debut, allowing three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
The Guardians pushed a run across in the second when Owen Miller hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Reyes’ one-out single.
Minnesota pulled even on Urshela’s leadoff homer in the fourth off Shane Bieber. The 434-foot blast to center was Urshela’s first since opening day.
Bieber allowed one run on seven hits over six frames on a season-high 109 pitches. He walked three and struck out seven.
The former Cy Young award winner worked out of trouble several times in the early innings. Gary Sanchez drew a two-out walk to load the bases in the third before Bieber struck out Max Kepler.
The Twins loaded the bases again with one out in the fifth before Urshela grounded into a double play and Jose Miranda grounded out to third to end the inning.
Twins reliever Jhoan Duran retired the Guardians in order in the ninth and recorded the fastest pitch in franchise history at 103.3 mph.
Minnesota went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and lost for the fourth time in its last five games.
–Field Level Media
