Guardians shut down Twins, 4-2
MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins hit a home run and a triple on Thursday, twice loaded the bases and scored a run on a wild pitch in their home opener at The Guardians defeated the Twins 4-2 in their home opener at Target Field, their second home opener in three years. The Twins managed only one extra-base hit, a home run and a triple, while the Guardians managed five soft singles and two runs. Despite managing only two runs and going 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position, the Twins were unable to manage any. Tanner Bibee, a second-year Cleveland right-hander, was responsible for several clutch strikeouts throughout the game. Despite a strong performance from the Guardians, the team managed to manage only two out of 12.
Published : 4 weeks ago by Phil Miller - Star Tribune (TNS) in Sports
MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins hit a home run and a triple on Thursday, twice loaded the bases and scored a run on a wild pitch in their home opener at Target Field.
The Guardians managed only one extra-base hit, a futile double in a scoreless inning, recorded five softly-hit singles against Pablo López, and twice had runners thrown out at the plate.
Four of the six hits López allowed came in Cleveland's three-run fourth inning, consecutive soft singles by Steven Kwan, Andrés Giménez and José Ramirez, and another one later by Tyler Freeman. But the Twins went 0 for 12 with runners in scoring position, struck out 15 times and stranded nine runners on base, thus managing only two runs and dropping their second home opener in three years.
Tanner Bibee, a second-year Cleveland right-hander was responsible for halting one Twins rally after another with clutch strikeouts. Alex Kirilloff's one-out, first-inning triple didn't produce a run, not once Bibee struck out Byron Buxton and induced Max Kepler into tapping the ball back to the mound. A single, hit batter and an error loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning, but Edouard Julien ended the threat by taking a third strike, one of three times he did that in the game.
And two singles plus a passed ball in the fourth inning handed the Twins a chance to counter the Guardians' early lead, but Christian Vázquez flew out to the center-field wall to douse that threat.
Bibee's only costly mistake came in the fifth inning, when Julien lofted a fly ball to left field, an opposite-field fly that carried into the first row of seats.
The Twins managed another run in the seventh against Guardians relievers Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis, but again the inning felt like a missed opportunity. A walk to Willi Castro and a single by Vázquez opened the inning, and after a Julien strikeout, Kirilloff was hit by Herrin's final pitch of the day, loading the bases.
The Twins, 0 for 6 this season with the bases loaded, did score a run when Gaddis bounced a pitch past catcher Bo Naylor, allowing Castro to race home. But Buxton struck out and Kepler popped up.