The Minnesota Twins defeated the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the final game of the three-game series at Progressive Field. The Twins regained first place after briefly losing it to the Indians last week at Target Field.
Ervin Santana bounced back after a poor outing by pitching six solid innings in the Twins first three-game road sweep over the Indians since 1991.
“It was really a fun series,” manager Paul Molitor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “There are times when you pause and enjoy the things that come your way throughout a season, and the guys should enjoy this. Man, they played their butts off.”
The Twins offensively were led by Eddie Rosario and Jason Castro, who each provided timely RBIs for the Twins. Castro hit two doubles and drove in three of the Twins’ four runs in Sunday’s game. Rosario also added his 10th home run of the season. The Twins definitely took advantage of Indians righthander Josh Tomlin who gave up nine hits, four earned runs and three walks.
“It was disappointing. We had a chance to take a step forward and spread the division lead a little bit, and we didn’t take advantage of that at all,” Tomlin told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “They came in here and wanted it a little more than we did, and they took three games.”
Santana became the second pitcher in the American League to earn 10 wins. Although he allowed nine hits on 108 pitches, the Indians could only find one extra-base hit in Sunday’s game.
“If you make your right pitch in the right location, everything will happen,” Santana told the Pioneer Press. “If they hit you, good for them. You just try to make a good pitch and see what happens.”
During the series, the Indians had struggled to produce timely RBIs, but the Twins took advantage of every opportunity that was presented to them. The Indians were just 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position.
“They had a whole lot of traffic the whole series. We made a lot of big pitches at big times,” Molitor told the Pioneer Press.
The Twins look to continue their momentum in a four-game-series against the Boston Red Sox on Monday.
–Scott Jordahl
