September is only seven days old, but it’s already looking a lot better than August did for the Indians.
Cleveland didn’t get a good outing from starter Jeanmar Gomez on Friday against the Twins. But the Tribe strung together plenty of hits and its bullpen locked down Minnesota on the way to a 7-6 series-opening victory at Target Field.
The Indians have won four of six this month after going 5-24 in August.
Michael Brantley’s RBI single in the seventh gave Cleveland a 5-4 lead, and his teammates tacked on two additional runs in the inning for insurance. David Huff threw 3 1/3 perfect innings of relief after Gomez largely struggled for three frames. Russ Canzler also starred for the Indians offense, going 3-for-4 with his first career home run and three RBIs.
The Indians entered the seventh tied at four, having erased a 4-0 deficit. Jason Kipnis led off by drawing a walk. Minnesota reliever Tyler Robertson fired the ball to first as Kipnis took off for second, and Justin Morneau got his ensuing throw to second in time, but Pedro Florimon couldn’t handle it. The error let Kipnis slide into second safely.
Robertson also issued a walk to Asdrubal Cabrera, prompting the Twins to bring in Alex Burnett, who wouldn’t fare much better. Burnett induced a fielder’s choice groundout from Carlos Santana before allowing Brantley’s single through the right side.
“Michael is a professional hitter,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He doesn’t panic at the plate. He’s done that for us the whole season. We understand that he’s not your prototype cleanup or fifth hitter, but he’s giving us quality at-bats and driven in some big runs for us because he just doesn’t panic and doesn’t strike out much. He knows what to do at the plate.”
Canzler and Casey Kotchman both registered infield singles, bringing home another run. Burnett walked pinch-hitter Cord Phelps with the bases loaded to cap Cleveland’s seventh-inning rally.
Cleveland sat in a 4-0 hole earlier mostly due to Gomez’s difficulties. The Tribe owed its opportunity for a comeback to Huff, who was spectacular in his second career relief appearance, relieving Gomez after the third. Huff hadn’t pitched out of the bullpen since Aug. 16, 2011, against the White Sox.
“I felt good,” Huff said. “Honestly I didn’t even know I was going to get in tonight. From what I was told, I had a 10 percent chance of getting in. But that phone rang, they called my name, and I just got ready.”
Huff struck out four batters in 3 1/3 innings while allowing no baserunners. Three of the four strikeouts were punctuated with fastballs.
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