The Cleveland Guardians beat the Twins 3-2 and 5-4 during the first two games of the three-game series, but Minnesota finally turned the tables on the Guards and showed they can win a one-run game once in a while, too.
The Twins raced out to a 4-0 lead in Sunday’s game, then held on for the 5-4 win to snap a four-game losing streak.
Jose Urena, a journeyman pitcher called up from Triple-A St. Paul, gave the Twins four innings, then manager Rocco Baldelli leaned on five relievers to get the job done.
Reliever Michael Tonkin nearly blew the game in the ninth, but another journeyman, Erasmo Ramirez, secured the final two outs in the inning for the win.
August is here, which means things don’t get any easier for the Twins. They are in Motown on Monday for a three-game set. A starter has not been named.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are now 14-19 in one-run games.
–Alan Roden, who came over from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, is one heck of a free swinger as far as I can tell. He may have showed off his hitting chops at the minor league level, but so far he cannot hit major league pitching. He has struck out 30 times, including four whiffs in Saturday’s loss, in 108 at bats. He is slashing .194/.268/.296, which is not good at all.
–So, did Bailey Ober pitch well in his return to the mound on Saturday? Well… he gave the Twins five innings, but he also allowed two more home runs to push his team-leading total to 23.
–How about the performance of Houston’s Framber Valdez on Sunday? The normally sensational Valdez had an odd outing at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.
Valdez uncorked a wild pitch, hit a batter, balked and suffered through a passed ball to allow six runs, but only four of them were earned.
–It isn’t just one day. The Twins’ regular radio play-by-play voice of Kris Atteberry was not in the booth on Friday, but he wasn’t just off on that day. He is going to miss the six-game road trip. Wichita Wind Surge voice Tim Grubbs is filling in for him.
–After the road series at Detroit, the Twins get the Royals, Yankees and Tigers all over again.