Twins strike back with shutout
CLEVELAND — The Minnesota Twins were waiting for a chance to exact revenge on the team that served them a four-game sweep and snatched first place from their grasp.
They waited a whole five days for the opportunity. Then they took the first step toward undoing the Cleveland Indians’ hard work from last weekend.
The Indians dropped a sloppy series opener to the Twins 5-0 on a soggy Friday night at Progressive Field.
Cleveland emerged victorious in all four games against Minnesota at Target Field last weekend. The Twins — for one night, at least — returned the favor.
Cleveland had no trouble placing runners on base in the early going. That’s only half — or, maybe, a quarter of — the battle, though. Twins left-hander Adalberto Mejia escaped after five scoreless innings in a manner that would make Harry Houdini proud.
“Adalberto probably had the most stressful five-inning, two-hit shutout that I’ve seen in some time,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said.
The Indians stranded nine runners in the first four frames. Mejia didn’t even allow a hit until Lonnie Chisenhall’s soft infield dribbler opened the fourth, but the Indians still had plenty of opportunities to make noise at the plate.
In the first, Francisco Lindor reached on a two-out error and Edwin Encarnacion walked, but Carlos Santana grounded out. In the second, the Indians loaded the bases on three walks, but Erik Gonzalez struck out to eliminate the threat. Cleveland packed the bags again in the fourth, but Gonzalez struck out and Lindor lined out to left to let Mejia off the hook.
“For not a lot of hits, we had base runners it seemed like the first five innings,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. “Every inning. And good chances. Weren’t able to do anything with it.”
Indians starter Trevor Bauer wasn’t so fortunate. The Twins tagged the right-hander for four runs in the second, highlighted by Jorge Polanco’s third home run of the season, a two-run shot to right field that traveled 404 feet.
Bauer exited after 6 innings, having allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk.