Guardians halt skid at five games
CLEVELAND — The Guardians were about to slide further back in the American League Central. Amed Rosario jammed on the brakes.
Rosario’s clutch two-run single in the eighth inning rallied Cleveland to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins in the first game of a day-night doubleheader Tuesday, snapping the Guardians’ five-game losing streak.
“We hung on,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “There were some things that didn’t go right, but we won.”
The Twins won the nightcap 6-0 as Byron Buxton hit his 20th homer and Jorge Polanco drove in three runs in his first game back from the injured list. RookJosh Winder went six innings and combined with two relievers on a five-hitter.
Down 2-1 in the opener and in danger of dropping four games behind the first-place Twins, the Guardians came back against reliever Emilio Pagan (1-3), who walked Myles Straw and rookie Steven Kwan before facing Rosario.
Cleveland’s shortstop then slapped a 3-2 pitch through the middle to give the Guardians a major lift. When he rounded first, Rosario, who went 3 for 4 and has five three-hit games in June, skipped in the air.
“It’s just part of the emotion of the moment,” he said through a translator. “I know we’ve had a couple of rough games, but because of that, we didn’t put our heads down, we just kept going.”
The division rivals are playing five times in four days during a stretch in which they’ll meet eight times in 10 days.
Carlos Correa’s homer leading off the eighth had given the Twins a 2-1 lead. Correa connected on a 1-0 pitch from reliever Sam Hentges (2-0), driving his ninth homer — and fourth in five games against Cleveland this season — just over the railing in left field.
Nationals 3, Pirates 1: Patrick Corbin matched a career high with 12 strikeouts, Yadiel Hernandez delivered a go-ahead two-run double, and host Washington rallied in the eighth inning for the second straight game, beating Pittsburgh.
Corbin (4-10) allowed one run in eight innings for Washington, which has won three in a row and six of eight.
Pittsburgh has lost five in a row by a combined seven runs.
Corbin, who hadn’t posted a double-digit strikeout game since 2019, struck out the side in the eighth to finish his night. He lowered his ERA lowered his ERA from 6.60 to 6.06.