Sergio Romo caused a bit of a stir Monday with a fiery outburst, but the flames were dulled tonight. Cleveland took the lead in the eighth inning after Romo retired just one of the five batters he faced. After dropping the series, the Twins’ lead in the division is down to a half game.
Berrios Struggles Early then Settles Down
Jose Berrios entered tonight's start coming off his best start of the year his last time out and the early results for Jose were not as good as his last outing. Berrios struggled with his command, walking three batters through the first three innings.
He was able to escape an early jam in the fist with some help from Max Kepler, who made a spectacular catch at the wall in right field. The biggest blemish of the night for Jose came in the third inning when he surrendered a three-run home run to Jose Ramirez, which gave Cleveland an early 3-2 lead.
After the third inning, Berrios was able to settle in and limit the damage. He recorded five strikeouts over the next two innings and kept Minnesota in the game. Jose ran into some trouble again in the sixth after he gave up a two-out double to Greg Allen and a walk to Roberto Perez. He was then relieved by Tyler Clippard, who made his first appearance since being hit by a line drive in his last outing.
Jose finished his night with a line of 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K -- it certainly wasn’t his best effort, but it wasn’t a terrible outing either and he gave his team a chance to win, which is all you can really ask for.
Offense Starts With a Bang
Max Kepler continued to do Max Kepler things when he led off the game with a solo home run off Mike Clevinger, who was making his first start since being reassigned for violating COVID-19 protocol.
Minnesota would add another run in the second inning after LaMonte Wade Jr singled, scoring Sano who had extended his hit streak to 10 games with a one-out double.
The bats went quiet through the middle innings as Mike Clevinger was able to settle in and silence the Minnesota offensive attack. They finally broke through again in the seventh when Ehire Adrianza pinch hit for LaMonte Wade against Oliver Perez and ripped a double to left field. Adrianza would advance to third on a deep fly ball and later scored on a Jake Cave bloop single over the drawn in Cleveland infield, which tied the game at 3-3.
Bullpen Falters
Tyler Duffey worked a scoreless seventh inning, retiring the Indians in order and striking out two. Rocco handed the ball to Romo in the eighth and it did not go as planned. Romo found himself in trouble right away after allowing a single and a walk followed by a double and a sac fly, which gave Cleveland a 5-3 lead. At innings end it was 6-3 in the favor of Cleveland.
Cleveland Takes the Series
The Twins ended up going down 1-2-3 in the 9th and the Indians took the game and series. They have moved to within a half game of first place in the division. The Twins will now move on to play Detroit and Cleveland will head to St. Louis.