CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Minnesota Twins arrived at Progressive Field for this weekend’s critical series with the Cleveland Guardians dazed.
With a doubleheader sweep, the Guardians may have delivered a knockout punch in a 15-inning slugfest that ended in the early hours of Sunday morning at Progressive Field.
Amed Rosario mercilessly ended the 5-hour, 24 minutes affair when he slapped a groundball up the middle and Jermaine Palacios booted it allowing Austin Hedges to score from third.
“Thank goodness,” said Manager Terry Francona. “We might still be playing.”
Rosario picked right up where he left off in Game 1 and followed his four-hit performance by collecting four more hits in the nightcap, two of them coming after midnight. Rosario belted his 10th home run of the season, a three-run homer in the 5th inning to give Cleveland a 4-0 lead and the Guardians appear to be in control from there.
Trailing 5-0 in the 8th inning, Minnesota appeared down for the count, then an error opened the door and gave the Twins a glimmer of hope.
Owen Miller couldn’t handle a ball hit by Jake Cave and it all began to unravel. Minnesota scored 5 runs to force extra innings and then insanity unfolded from there.
The Guardians bullpen has been the definition of automatic. If you spot them a 5-run lead, they’re likely going to close it out. They’ve logged a 2.16 ERA from the All-Star break, the lowest in MLB. Trevor Stephan allowed a single and then hit Carlos Correa to load the bases.
Giovani Urshela connected on a two-run single to start the comeback.
“He kind of lost his split a little bit,” Francoan said. “Then he hit Correa with it. He just kind of lost the plate.”
James Karinchak gave up the game-tying home run, a two-run blast into the bullpen off the bat of Nick Gordon. It was just the second longball Karinchak has given up all year.
Neither team could scrape a run across the plate in extra innings with the ghost runner at second base until Gordon scored Carlos Correa with a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 6-5 lead in the 13th inning.
It looked like the Twins were about to reverse the Guardians late-game magic and use it on the home team when Rosario smacked an RBI single up the middle in the bottom half to draw even again.
“That’s a long day,” Francona said.
Who else but Rosario, who went a combined 8-for-13 with six RBIs and a home run, came to the plate with a chance to win it in the 15 inning.
Konnor Pilkington looked as sharp as he’s been all season. The big left hander retired 10 straight before allowing a walk to Carlos Correa to leadoff the 4th inning. He was immediately wiped out by a double-play.
“I don't use my curveball too much. It was on tonight and I used it to my advantage,” Pilkington said.
The rookie went 5 2/3 before allowing a hit and received a nice ovation and plenty of love from his teammates on the mound in the infield before he exited for the night.
“I don't think about that kind of stuff (having a no-hitter) when I'm on the mound,” Pilkington said. “Take it pitch by pitch. I lost it for couple pitches here and tried to hone back in the best I could.”
The Guardians used 8 relievers after Pilkington’s night was done. Kirk McCarty earned the win after he tossed three innings, allowing one unearned run, giving the G’s a chance to win it extras.
“He saved our bacon. I mean, he pitched, he competed,” Francona said. “It made a potentially really frustrating ending into a good night.”
With a newborn at home, McCarty has grown accustomed to working at odd hours.
“She’s slept really good whenever she's been here,” he said with a laugh. “You can go with 24 hours or no sleep and be ready to go in that moment. Those are moments you dream of. Anybody who's played the same kind of chomping at the bit to get in there in a moment like that.”
The nightcap was Cleveland’s longest game since a 16-inning marathon on April 18, 2018, also against the Twins. The win put Minnesota 7 games behind Cleveland in the American League Central. Chicago beat Detroit to stay 4.5 games back.