The pitch was not where Indians reliever Bryan Shaw wanted it.
His full-count slider came in waist-high for the Twins’ Josh Willingham, who didn’t miss an opportunity to snap a tie ballgame in the eighth inning.
Cleveland was able to stay close with Minnesota on Monday night thanks to several early breaks, but the Tribe was handed a 4-3 loss at Target Field after Willingham’s homer over the left-field wall.
“We had 3-2 right there, so I was trying to throw something soft,” Shaw said. “He was catching up to the heaters. He laid off the 2-2 heater that was just off, away. So I tried to flip a slider in there.”
Willingham’s ninth home run of the year was the Twins’ first real sign of life in five innings.
Early on, the game appeared headed toward a rout for the home team. Swept by Tampa Bay this weekend, Minnesota’s lineup went from ice cold to electric against Indians starter T.J. House.
Kendrys Morales and Willingham led off the bottom of the second with singles before Kurt Suzuki brought both of them home with a double to center.
Chris Colabello then sent a first-pitch fastball out to the right-field seats for a 4-0 lead, but replays showed that the ball sailed just wide of the foul pole. Given another chance, House struck out Colabello and then retired the next two batters with a mix of sliders and changeups.
“It’s great,” House said of the overturned call. “You don’t want to be down 4-0 in the second. Just got to get that guy out, which I did, and kind of limited the damage there with just two runs. So it was definitely a positive influence on the later end of the game.”
But the Indians didn’t escape fully intact. Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was pulled after the inning with lower back spasms. He appeared to be in pain after snaring a grounder from Chris Parmelee and throwing to first for the out.
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