The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Indians lose on walk-off home run
MINNEAPOLIS » After suffering through a historic streak of walkoff losses, the Twins were only too happy to reverse the trend.
Eddie Rosario hit his third homer of the game, launching a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Twins over the Indians, 7-5, on June 3.
On May 29, the Twins tied the 1968 Pirates and 2010 Mariners with their eighth walk-off loss in their first 50 games.
“As many as we’ve experienced, we haven’t had a lot of those chances to see the home-plate celebrations,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said. “The right guy did it. I didn’t see exactly what happened at home plate, but I’m sure it was pretty festive.”
Rosario became the first Twins player to have a pair of three-homer games.
He also hit three home runs last June 13 at home against the Mariners. Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva are among the Twins who did it once.
Minnesota beat the AL Central-leading Indians for the third straight day.
Cleveland closer Cody Allen (2-2) walked Brian Dozier to lead off the ninth. Then he fell behind Rosario 2-1.
With the heart of the Twins’ order coming up, Rosario knew Allen couldn’t afford to put another runner on, and he was ready
for what came next.
“After he threw me a second ball, I knew he was going to throw me a fastball,” said Rosario, who popped up a 2-0 pitch against Allen when they faced each other on May 31. “It was up, and he throws 95, but I stayed through the ball. I didn’t know where the ball was going, but I wanted to try to finish the game.”
Rosario, who began the day with 10 homers, hit a solo homer in the first inning and another solo home run in the seventh.