The Minnesota Twins lost Game 1 but they had RHP Bailey Ober starting and hopefully ending a 4-game losing streak in Game 2 of a 3-game series in Cleveland. He’s been rolling but he hasn’t been counted on to be a stopper so maybe this was his first test. Cleveland for sure knows how well he’s been pitching and they’ll have a game plan to get to him so who will win this battle? Let’s find out.
2024 Minnesota Twins Schedule
24-20
MLB Standings
3rd Place in AL Central
––––– TT –––––
2024 Cleveland Guardians Schedule
28-15
MLB Standings
1st Place in AL Central
––––– TT –––––
Twinsactions
The Twins activated CF Byron Buxton from the 10-Day Injured List (IL) (Right knee inflammation) & optioned UTIL Austin Martin to Triple-A St. Paul. Will Byron Buxton be able to spark this Minnesota Twins offense? They seem to need a spark or something to kick them back in gear.
Here’s how both teams lined up:
Minnesota Twins Lineup:
Cleveland Guardians Lineup:
Game Recap
The pitching matchup:
Minnesota Twins
RHP Bailey Ober
(4-1, 3.77 ERA, 0.844 WHIP*)
vs
Cleveland Guardians
RHP Logan Allen
(4-2, 5.56 ERA, 1.377 WHIP*)
*ERA=Earned Run Average; WHIP=Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched
The Minnesota Twins got a leadoff single from DH Ryan Jeffers followed by a walk of SS Carlos Correa but LF Willi Castro struck out swinging and 3B Jose Miranda grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to quickly end the top of the 1st.
Cleveland CF Tyler Freenan singled to left field to leadoff the bottom of the 1st inning. 2B Andrés Giménez then flew out to left field and that brought up 3B José Ramirez and he battled through a 12-pitch at-bat and…
1B Josh Naylor followed that with a line drive single to right field but Bailey Ober got both LF David Fry & RF Will Brennan to strike out swinging to end the inning.
Minnesota Twins 0 | 2 Cleveland Guardians
End of the 1st
Newly activated Minnesota Twins CF Byron Buxton grounded out to 2nd. RF Manuel Margot singled to left field but 1B Carlos Santana & 2B Kyle Farmer struck out swinging to end the top of the 2nd. Bailey Ober rebounded for a very good 2nd inning as he set the Cleveland hitters down 1-2-3 with a lineout (DH Kyle Manzardo) & 2 swinging strikeouts (C Bo Naylor & SS Brayan Rocchio).
Cleveland CF Tyler Freeman led off the the bottom of the 3rd with a single then stole 2nd then Andrés Giménez singled and José Ramírez doubled (7) to score Freeman and Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly to score Giménez to make it 4-0. David Fry walked then Will Brennan grounded a ball to 1st for a rare 3-2 double play as 1B Carlos Santana tagged the runner then threw home to get Ramírez at the plate to end the 3rd inning.
Minnesota Twins 0 | 4 Cleveland Guardians
End of the 3rd
Twins LF Willi Castro led off the top of the 4th with a single to 2nd that went off pitcher Logan Allen but 2 pitches later, Jose Miranda cleared the bases by grounding into a 5-4-3 double play. Buxton then struck out swinging for the 3rd out.
Cleveland tacked on another run with a 2-out single followed by a 2-out double to make it…
Minnesota Twins 0 | 5 Cleveland Guardians
End of the 4th
A leadoff single by Twins RF Manuel Margot was followed by a lineout, a strikeout looking and a flyout then Twins manager Rocco Baldelli went to his bullpen and brought in LHP Kody Funderburke.
Minnesota Twins
RHP Bailey Ober
4IP 8H 5R/ER 1BB 4K 1HR
91 pitches, 63 strikes
Ramírez greeted Funderburke with a single to right field but he rebounded by getting Josh Naylor to ground into a 4-6-3 double play then he hit David Fry with a pitch. Fry stole 2nd base and Will Brennan singled him in with a hit to center field then Brennan came home on a Kyle Manzardo double (2). Funderburke walked Bo Naylor but got Rocchio to ground out back to the pitcher to end the 5th.
Minnesota Twins 0 | 7 Cleveland Guardians
End of the 5th
A 1-out single from Carlos Correa turned into nothing after a lineout and a forceout then Correa was replaced by Edouard Julien, batting 2nd & playing 2nd. Kyle Farmer moved from 2nd to shortstop. Funderburke pitched another inning & allowed a leadoff walk and a single but got a popout then another double play ball to end the 6th inning with no more runs added from the Guardians.
Cleveland went to their bullpen and RHP Nick Sandlin and he allowed just a 1-out single to Manuel Margot. Twins RHP Jay Jackson replaced Funderburke. Jackson walked the leadoff batter and gave up 4 straight 2-out singles for 4 runs before getting Ramírez to ground out to end the 7th inning.
Minnesota Twins 0 | 11 Cleveland Guardians
End of the 7th
Twins LF Willi Castro replaced Jay Jackson on the mound to pitch the 8th inning and he set the Guardians down 1-2-3 on 2 flyouts & a groundout then he led off the top of the 9th and reached on a fielding error. Back-to-back singles scored Castro. A Carlos Santana scored Miranda and a Kyle Farmer double (7) scored Buxton & Santana but Christian Vázquez flew out and Alex Kirilloff struck out swinging to end the game.
And the losing streak has reached 5 games. Can the Minnesota Twins take something from a 4-run top of the 9th & turn it into a better showing in the 3rd game on Sunday afternoon with Chris Paddack on the mound against Tanner Bibee?
––––– TT –––––
Final Score
Minnesota Twins 4 | 11 Cleveland Guardians
W-Logan Allen (4-2) L-Bailey Ober (4-2)
––––– TT –––––
Thank You for reading our TwinsTakes! We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes!
So, hit us up on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and/or LinkedIn!!!
That’s why it’s…
