Twins 3, Guardians 1: 2 outta 3 ain’t bad

After they were swept by the Astros earlier this week, the Twins desperately needed a solid series against the Cleveland Guardians in order to get back on track and avoid losing their advantage in the AL Central. After splitting the first two games, the Twins came into Sunday needing to win to prevent Cleveland from moving within a game of the division lead. Things started out in the right direction in the first inning, with Luis Arraez scoring on a Max Kepler single to right field to make it 1-0 Twins. Joe Ryan was able to keep the Guardians off the board until the 4th, when Jose Ramirez tied the game with a solo homer. That would turn out to be the only scoring Cleveland would do. In the 5th, Gio Urshela hit his second homer in as many days to give the Twins a 2-1 lead, and then Byron Buxton launched his 11th of the year to extend the lead to 3-1. That homer moved him into a tie for second in the majors with Yordan Alvarez on the home run leaderboard. Cleveland sports teams have come back from 3-1 deficits before, but there would be none of that today, as the bullpen was able to shut down the Guardians offense for the rest of the game. The Twins improve to 20-15 on the year, and extend their AL Central lead to three games thanks to that win and the Yankees win over the White Sox. The Twins will travel to Oakland for three games with the A’s starting tomorrow

STUDS
Byron Buxton: 1-4, HR (11)

Gio Urshela: 1-3, HR (3)

Max Kepler: 1-3, RBI single in 1st

Joe Ryan: 6IP, 5K, 4H, 1ER, 0BB

Bullpen combined: 3IP, 2H, 4K, 0ER, 0BB

DUDS
NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!

Enjoy your Sunday evening, thanks to everyone who joined us in the game thread!