Cleveland got on the board in 2nd inning, as Rhys Hoskins went down and got Taj Bradley’s fastball and hit it out of the park to center for a solo homer. That was one of only three hits allowed by Bradley all night, as well as the only Guardians run. The question became: Can the Twins score more than one run tonight? The answer was yes.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Kody Clemens, Ryan Kreidler, and Luke Keaschall all reached without hitting a ball out of the infield. Then, after Kyler Fedko struck out (still
searching for that first big league hit), Austin Martin got the Twins on the board with a sac-fly. With 2 outs, Brooks Lee put the Twins on top with a single up the middle, scoring Kreidler.
Taj Bradley had great stuff tonight, getting 10 strikeouts. Cleveland batters couldn’t hit his cutter, which had a 71% whiff rate and got him 7 of those strikeouts. In the 7th, with the tying run at 3rd and 1 out, he used that cutter to get Rhys Hoskins to strikeout, then a splitter got Brayan Rocchio to ground out to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 7th, with Josh Bell at first and 2 outs, Kody Clemens drilled a ball into the left-center field gap for an RBI triple to get the Twins an insurance run.
Andrew Morris tossed a clean 8th inning, and Taylor Rogers got the first two in the 9th until he walked Chase DeLauter. Yoendrys Gomez came in and got Gabriel Arias to swing through 3 straight pitches for the save.
Studs:
Taj Bradley: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K, HR
Kody Clemens: 2-4, R, 3B, RBI
Josh Bell: 2-3, R, BB
Luke Keaschall: 2-4
Duds:
NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!
