CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – A tough afternoon at the plate wasn't stopping Cesar Hernandez in the 10th from being the hero.
Hernandez turned on the second offering from Twins reliever Alex Colume and sent it over the wall down the right field line in the bottom of the 10th to give the Indians their third walk-off victory of the season and a 5-3 win over Minnesota Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field.
Prior to his big blast, Hernandez was 0-4 with a strikeout and double play.
“That was certainly a clutch hit,” Francona said. “I mean, he did have a tough day at the plate, but he plays the game and he doesn’t quit playing.”
The Twins are now 0-8 in extra innings this year following Hernandez's heroics.
“I wanted to be aggressive, but I told myself to remain calm because this was the most important at-bat of the day,” Hernandez said. “There is a shared mindset we have to win as many games as possible and the passion to play the best baseball we can.”
Shane Bieber labored through 5 1/3 innings where he allowed 3 runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts but did not factor in the decision.
“It’s less of a stuff thing and more of an execution thing for me,” Bieber said. “I’ve got to be better.”
Twins starter Kenta Maeda exited after five innings and trailing 3-2.
After retiring the first two hitters of the afternoon, Maeda hit Jose Ramirez in the thigh raising questions about intent. On the very next pitch, Franmil Reyes made Maeda pay by slugging his 11th homer of the season, a 424-foot blast to the bullpens in right center for a 2-0 Indians lead in the first.
It was Reyes’ third homer in four at-bats off Maeda this season.
The second inning featured more two-out magic. Catcher Austin Hedges snapped an 0-14 skid with an RBI single to right center scoring Amed Rosario, who doubled with two outs, to extend the lead to 3-0.
Reyes departed in the sixth after suffering a strained left abdominal muscle while fouling off a pitch. Jordan Luplow came on to replace him.
“We’ll get him looked at in the morning and try to get it read real quick and go from there,” Francona said. “But I mean I think common sense says he’s probably gonna miss some time.”
Josh Donaldson got the Twins on the board with a sac fly to right in the third, scoring Rob Refsnyder from third, cutting the Indians lead to 3-1. Right fielder Josh Naylor airmailed the throw off the netting on the third base side of the plate.
Miguel Sano led off the fourth with his eighth homer of the season – a shot to dead center into the shrubs – to bring Minnesota within a run of the Indians, 3-2.
Alex Kirilloff ended Bieber’s afternoon with a one-out RBI single to right scoring Max Kepler, who tripled to lead off the inning, that tied the game at 3. Nic Sandlin relieved and hit the first batter he faced and walked another, but a pair of strikeouts helped him escape with the game still tied at 3.
Brian Shaw pitched around a one-out walk in the seventh and Emmanuel Clase retired all five batters he faced, including a strikeout, before giving way to James Karinchak with two outs in the ninth.
Karinchack struck out two of the four hitters he faced in the ninth and 10th innings to earn his second win of the season.
“I mean it’s good at any time, but the way the rule is now, it’s a weapon. There’s no denying that,” Francona said.
The Indians had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth when Harold Ramirez hit a double to the wall in right but Josh Naylor, who walked, was stopped at third with one out. Amed Rosario walked with two out to load the bases but Austin Hedges was unable to collect his third hit of the afternoon to bring home the winning run forcing extras.