Despite a quick turnaround from Saturday night’s game that ended just after 12:30 a.m. local time, Cleveland’s big bats woke up for the series finale. The Indians received a strong effort by starter Josh Tomlin and blasted three homers over 400 feet to pick up a 6-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Target Field.
The Indians improved to 28-12 against American League Central opponents and earned their first series win over the Twins of the season.
“They’ve given us some fits,” Tomlin said of the Twins. “It’s nice to come in here and take two from them and start the road trip off the right way. Hopefully, we can continue that going into Kansas City and Baltimore.”
Mike Napoli launched a leadoff home run off Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson in the second inning, giving the Tribe an early advantage. Three straight two-out singles in the fifth, including a run-scoring hit from Carlos Santana, added to Cleveland’s lead against Gibson, who fell to 2-6 on the season.
“I thought [Gibson] was pretty good today, for the most part,” said Twins manager Paul Molitor. “He attacked a little bit better early, and we just didn’t have enough offense. We were struggling offensively throughout most of the series. We didn’t come out swinging the way we did down in Texas, so it’s a little disappointing not to find a way to come back and win the series when we had a chance today.”
The Indians pulled away in the sixth after catcher Chris Gimenez, who replaced an injured Yan Gomes in the fifth inning, made the Twins pay for two defensive misplays with a two-run single. Tyler Naquin added an insurance run with a solo homer to center in the eighth. The blast off the black backdrop behind the center-field berm was the rookie’s 10th of the year.
Tribe second baseman Jason Kipnis, who reached base four times in the win, added his 15th homer of the year in the ninth.
Minnesota could only muster a solo homer by Max Kepler against Tomlin, who scattered six hits in 7 2/3 innings to remain undefeated in nine road starts. He improved his overall record to 10-2, joining Danny Salazar as the second Cleveland starter to reach 10 wins.
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