The Twins bullpen held on for a 2-1 win Saturday and then they did it all over again 5-4 on Sunday to give the team its first series win at Cleveland in nearly three years.
The two teams were tied at 1-1 in the 3rd inning and then the Twins went to work in the 5th, getting in order: double, single, double, single and single to push four runs across and take a 5-1 lead.
And then the bullpen did just enough.
Travis Adams coughed up two runs, Luis Garcia surrendered a third run, but new guy Yoendrys Gomez finally worked a clean 9th inning to pick up his second save of the season.
The win went to Kendry Rojas who the Twins acquired last season in the deal that sent Ty France and Louis Varland to the Toronto Blue Jays. Rojas struck out five across three-plus inning with one run allowed.
The Twins are off Monday and then welcome the Miami Marlins to Target Field on Tuesday. Bailey Ober gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 18-23. Again, no team in the AL Central has a winning record.
–Rojas can certainly throw hard, he just needs to work on his control. He walked three batters in three-plus innings and only 34 of his 60 pitches landed for strikes.
–The Twins scored their five runs on 13 hits. The bottom of the order was particularly productive as Kody Clemens, Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis accounted for six of the 13 hits. Clemens led the way with a 3-for-4 day with two runs scored, including two doubles.
–It also was good to see Josh Bell break out of a slump with two hits and Austin Martin keeps on producing as he banged out two more hits as well.
–The Twins haven’t been real strong with runners in scoring position, but on Sunday they went 7-for-17. That’s more like it.