The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians on a walk-off home run from Oswaldo Arcia on Monday night, winning despite being outhit 12-5 and Tommy Milone going only 4.2 innings after a 16-inning game in Washington the day before.
“It was a hard-fought game, it was chilly for sure,” said manager Paul Molitor, referencing the 50 degree weather at first pitch. “After yesterday’s very, very challenging loss, to bounce back… Good way to start the homestand.”
Arcia was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts before his 9th inning walk-off homer off of Zach MacAllister.
“He had a couple big hits early in the season. He can take some funny swings throughout the course of a game, and he’s very animated up there in the batter’s box,” said Molitor. “But he’s an emotional guy, and even that at-bat, the swings weren’t particularly good early on, and he got a mistake and he ended the game.”
The clubhouse was quite animated after the win, even moreso than it was after the team’s first victory following the 0-9 start to the season.
It made for a very funny scene where Miguel Sano, whose locker is next to Arcia’s, butted into Arcia’s postgame presser and messed around with his suddenly hot-hitting teammate who finished the year below .200 in Triple-A last season.
Even Molitor and hitting coach Tom Brunansky were giving Arcia a hard time throughout the game.
“I’m standing next to Brunansky over there, and every time he takes one of those out of control swings, Bruno’s yelling at him. And you can see him stepping out of the box, trying to regroup,” said Molitor.
“I think he’s learning the short, compact swing, the ball still goes a long way. It’s just, he gets a little emotional in that box sometimes, and he gets outside of himself.”
Milone started out hot, striking out two in a 1-2-3 first, but struggled shortly after. He was pulled after 4.2 innings in a game that he readily admits the bullpen saved, despite being worn out from the Nationals game.
“He’s holding the numbers down, for the most part,” said Molitor. “He never misses by a lot. He’s just kinda right around the corners, but pitches get up there.”
Cleveland struck early, with Marlon Byrd knocking in a runner in the second and Jason Kipnis hitting an RBI single in the 5th.
Minnesota responded in the bottom half of the fifth with an excellent showing of two-out hitting. Brian Dozier’s double scored two runs, and Miguel Sano added an RBI after starter Danny Salazar was chased to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead.
“Doze was having good at-bats, three-ball counts his first two at-bats, and then the third time he got a 3-1 pitch, and he was able to hit it in the corner, get us in the game,” said Molitor.
“And Miguel, we told him about (former Twins reliever Jeff) Manship, just make sure you get the ball up. And he stayed on the slider, and he pushed it out there to right field to give us a lead.”
Yan Gomes’ solo shot off of Ryan Pressly tied it up 3-3 in the eighth, however. “We gave it back,” said Molitor. “Gomes hit the home run, it’s a little bit deflating, you’re trying to hang on to a win.”
The combined efforts of Trevor May (1.1 innings pitched), Fernando Abad (0.2), Pressly (1.1) and Kevin Jepsen (1.0), who only gave up one hit (the Pressly homer), kept Minnesota in long enough for Arcia to hit the walk-off.
“Some of the pitchers stepped up, who I know didn’t have a lot,” said Molitor, “but they went out there and pitched for us and were able to find a way to win a game.”
