This one never sat still. Cleveland and Minnesota traded leads three times before the Twins finally pulled away, riding a four-run fourth inning and a three-run eighth to a 10-6 win at Progressive Field. Six lead changes and tie-breaks later, the Guardians simply ran out of innings.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIN | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 11 | 0 |
| CLE | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 3 |
Brooks Lee delivered the biggest swing of the night, a three-run homer to center in the fourth that turned a one-run Minnesota lead into a four-run cushion. He finished 2-for-5 with 4 RBI. Trevor Larnach set the tone early with a solo homer in the first and added a fourth-inning single that scored two more, finishing 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI. For Cleveland, Kyle Manzardo carried the offense, going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and 2 RBI.
The game turned in the fourth. Tied at 3-3, Alex Jackson reached on an infield single to third as Roden scored, the go-ahead run that Minnesota never gave back. Lee's three-run blast immediately followed, extending the margin to 7-3. Cleveland answered with a run of its own that inning on a Ramírez fielder's choice, but the deficit held. Minnesota put the game away in the eighth, with Larnach's single driving in Keaschall and Roden, and Bell following with a single that brought home Jackson for a 10-4 cushion.
Cleveland starter Slade Cecconi lasted 4.2 innings, allowing 7 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits with 5 strikeouts. Bailey Ober went 4.0 innings for Minnesota, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. Cleveland's bullpen covered 4.1 innings and allowed 3 runs, while Minnesota's relievers worked 5.0 innings and allowed 2 runs, including Manzardo's eighth-inning homer and a ninth-inning RBI single that trimmed the final margin. Manzardo's homer and Rocchio's run in the ninth were the last gasps of a Cleveland lineup that never found enough to finish the comeback.
Minnesota improved to 50-53, snapping in with a win after a loss, while Cleveland fell to 54-49 and dropped its first game after a win. The Guardians sit second in their division, but this one slipped away in the middle innings and stayed gone.