Nothing separated the teams for long on Tuesday night at Target Field. Taj Bradley made sure it stayed that way. The Minnesota right-hander struck out 10 and allowed just 1 run on 3 hits over 7 innings, anchoring a 3-1 Twins victory over the Cleveland Guardians before 17,813 fans.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| MIN | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | X | 3 | 10 | 0 |
Bradley needed only 101 pitches to record 10 strikeouts without issuing a walk. He picked up his eighth win against three losses, carrying a 3.67 ERA. The Minnesota bullpen covered the final 2 innings without allowing a run.
Cleveland struck first. Rhys Hoskins led off the second inning with a home run to center, a 416-foot shot that gave the Guardians a 1-0 lead. Minnesota answered immediately. Austin Martin's sacrifice fly brought Clemens home to tie it, and then Brooks Lee singled to center to score Kreidler and put the Twins in front, 2-1. That was the go-ahead run, and Cleveland never recovered. Kody Clemens added an insurance run in the seventh, tripling to left to score Josh Bell and extend the lead to 3-1.
Joey Cantillo took the loss, falling to 7-4. He allowed 2 runs on 6 hits over 5 innings, walking 3 and striking out 7. Both runs came without an earned run charged to him. Cleveland's bullpen allowed 1 more run over the final 3 innings. Yoendrys Gomez closed out the ninth for his 10th save.
Minnesota has won three straight and improved to 45-47. Cleveland, which entered the night at second in the division, dropped to 47-45 on its third consecutive loss.