Kyle Manzardo opened the ninth inning with a walk-off home run as the Cleveland Guardians snapped a three-game skid with a 2-1 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.
After a weather delay of more than three hours before first pitch, Manzardo, who had two of Cleveland’s six hits for the game, ended the long night. His drive off Louis Varland (1-2) went well over the right field wall to help the Guardians even the four-game set at one win apiece.
Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee allowed only Ty France’s fifth-inning home run and four other hits in seven innings. He struck out five without yielding a walk.
Chris Paddack was nearly as solid for the Twins, permitting just Bo Naylor’s solo homer and three other hits in five innings. He fanned two and walked one, but the Twins fell to 0-6 with him on the mound this season. Minnesota, who had won four in a row and rapped out a season-high 17 hits during an 11-1 series-opening victory on Monday, managed just seven hits on Tuesday.
Naylor entered the game 1-for-17 over his previous five contests, but he capped a nine-pitch at-bat in the third inning with a shot into the right field seats for a 1-0 Cleveland lead.
After the Guardians put runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth and didn’t score, the Twins leveled the contest in the fifth. France sent a Bibee fastball the opposite way, over the right-center-field wall.
France had three hits for the Twins, whose offense sputtered after totaling 32 runs during the four-game winning streak.
Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase (4-0), who has struggled to find his All-Star form from the past three seasons, picked up the win after pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
The Guardians improved to 4-4 on a 10-game homestand that started by them taking two of three from the New York Yankees. They subsequently dropped the final two of a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox before welcoming the Twins to town.
–Field Level Media
