Indians beat Twins to snap losing skid

CLEVELAND — The Guardians were about to slide further back in the AL Central. Amed Rosario jammed on the brakes.

Rosario’s clutch tworun 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.”

Down 2-1 and in danger of dropping four games behind the firstplace Twins, the Guardians came back against reliever Emilio Pagán (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.

And while there’s three-plus months to go, every game matters.

“It’s like the playoffs, we already know how that is,” said Guardians starter Zach Plesac, who blanked the Twins on three hits over six innings. “These games are like a playoff-type atmosphere. Its definitely going to be a close game. We’re not looking ahead, but these games are important.

“In the end when we look back, these are the games that count in the standings, so it’s definitely important.”