Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians

· Major League Baseball

Minnesota Twins

80-72, 38-39 Away

Final
4 - 5

Cleveland Guardians

88-65, 47-28 Home

Brayan Rocchio's game-winning single in 10th gives AL Central-leading Guardians a 5-4 win over Twins

Kyle Manzardo and Will Brennan had RBI singles off Ronny Henriquez (1-1) before Michael Tonkin entered and gave up Rocchio’s second career walk-off hit, a chopper to right through a drawn-in infield.

“It’s awesome being with all these guys on the team,” Rocchio said. “That’s a special moment for me. I talked to (manager Stephen) Vogt before the game and he told me, ‘Hey, today you have a chance to win the game,’ and you saw what happened.”

The Guardians, who now have a major league-leading 41 comeback victories this season, can lock up a postseason spot Thursday with a win over Minnesota.

Josh Naylor hit a pair of solo homers and scored three times for Cleveland, which leads the division by six games over Kansas City with nine games remaining. Naylor’s first shot was a 445-foot rocket to right-center, giving him his initial 30-homer season.

“The biggest game of the year and look what we do,” Brennan said. “The youngest guys on the team get it done. These guys are so prepared, it’s unbelievable.”

The Twins took a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th on Carlos Correa’s two-run single off Hunter Gaddis (5-3). Correa finished with four RBI and extended his hitting streak to 16 games, matching his career high with Houston in 2019.

“I was excited about that at-bat and it was a good moment, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Correa, who is batting .377 with five homers and 15 RBI in his last 17 games. “You just have to keep fighting. It’s a tough sport.”

Twins right-hander Bailey Ober struck out a career-high 12 over seven innings, but remained winless in seven starts since Aug. 9. He allowed two runs without issuing a walk.

With the loss, Minnesota's lead over Detroit for the final AL wild-card position was sliced to one half a game. The Twins own the tiebreaker over the Tigers and the clubs are done with their season series.

“We had some guys do some pretty great things out there, but it probably hurts more because we’re fighting for everything right now,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Guardians starter Tanner Bibee worked 6 2/3 innings and gave up two runs. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA in four games against Minnesota this season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: OF Trevor Larnach (hamstring), who has a career-high 15 homers, served as the designated hitter for his sixth game in a row. Baldelli said Larnach should return to his regular spot in left field before the start of the postseason.

Guardians: RHP Alex Cobb (right third finger blister), who is eligible to come off the injured list on Sept. 24, will determine whether he throws a simulated game or makes a start for Triple-A Columbus. “Really, Alex is driving the bus on this,” Vogt said.

Twins RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5, 4.08 ERA) faces Guardians LHP Joey Cantillo (2-3, 4.99 ERA) in the four-game series finale Thursday.

How can I watch Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Guardians?

TV Channel: Twins at Guardians 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Guardians: 59.2%

Twins: 40.8%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	10th Inning	Rocchio singled to right, Giménez scored, Brennan to second.
	10th Inning	Tonkin relieved Henriquez
	10th Inning	Bo Naylor struck out swinging.
	10th Inning	Brennan singled to right, Straw scored, Giménez to third.
	10th Inning	Brennan hit for Noel
	10th Inning	Giménez walked, Straw to second.

Statistics

MIN		CLE
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
2	Hit By Pitch	0
12	Ground Balls	10
9	Strikeouts	15
4	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
8	Hits	7
0	Stolen Bases	1
1	Walks	1
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	5
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
37	At Bats	35
0	Home Runs	2
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	7
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	0
16	Fly Balls	10
0	Caught Stealing	0
139	Pitches	145
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	2
1	Pinch Hits	2
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	1
10	Total Bases	13
40	Plate Appearances	36
0.0	Projected Home Runs	324.0
2	Extra Base Hits	2
2.4	Runs Created	3.0
.216	Batting Average	.200
1.000	Pinch Hit Average	1.000
.270	Slugging Percentage	.371
.081	Secondary Average	.229
.275	On Base Percentage	.222
.545	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.594
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.0
2.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	2.9
28.0	Batter Rating	34.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	17.5
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	1.00
3.48	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.03
.054	Isolated Power	.171
0.11	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.07
.025	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.028
-.135	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.029
8.0	Runs Produced	10.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.3	Patience Ratio	0.4
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
76.3	MLB Rating	78.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0