Post-Game Recap

Game Summary

José Ramírez capped a 12-pitch at-bat with a home run and drove in three runs, while Logan Allen pitched six strong innings, leading the Cleveland Guardians to an 11-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night. The Twins, mired in a five-game losing streak, continued their offensive struggles.

Ramírez set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning off Bailey Ober (4-2) and added an RBI double. The Guardians celebrated their All-Star third baseman with a bobblehead giveaway.

“It seems like everyone’s calling his home run every single time in the dugout,” said Cleveland’s Tyler Freeman, who had a career-high four hits and three RBIs. “It’s so fun to play behind him, and when he gets it going early on, it just lights a fire for us.”

Needing a triple for the cycle – Cleveland’s last home cycle was in 1933 – Ramírez popped to second in the sixth and grounded to first in the seventh.

The AL Central-leading Guardians moved a season-best 12 games over .500.

Allen (5-2) allowed five singles and hasn’t given up a run in his last 12 innings over two starts. The left-hander walked one and struck out seven.

Andrés Giménez had two RBIs for Cleveland, and rookie Kyle Manzardo recorded his first RBI with a double in the fifth.

The Twins, who had won 17 of 20 games, scored four runs in the ninth to avoid being shut out for the third time in five days. They have been outscored 28-7 during their losing streak.

“It’s a funny game that we play,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. “You’re on fire for two or three weeks straight, and you feel like you can do no wrong, and then the game turns it around very quickly on you. We’re sputtering a little bit, there’s no way around that. We’ve got to find a way to lift ourselves and score some runs.”

Minnesota’s Byron Buxton went 1-for-4 with an RBI in his first game back after being sidelined for two weeks with right knee inflammation.

Ramírez, who homered in the eighth inning to help the Guardians win Friday’s series opener, connected off Ober in the first after fouling off seven pitches.

With Freeman on first after a leadoff single, Ramírez battled Ober before hitting his 11th homer, the 227th of his career. The shot moved him into fourth place in team history behind Jim Thome (337), Albert Belle (242), and Manny Ramirez (236).

“He’s a legend,” Allen said of Ramírez. ”He’s a goat. He’s our guy. He’s the reason why we’re as good as we are. It’s great to see him do that.”

The homer also ended the Guardians’ scoreless streak against Ober at 18 innings. The right-hander needed 38 pitches just to get through the first and allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings.

Bailey had been 4-0 with a 2.16 ERA in his previous seven starts.

“That’s a difficult way to start a game,” Baldelli said. “But most of that outing was tough. That Ramírez at-bat was very challenging to get through. Bailey gives you everything that he has. He gave us four innings and maxed out about as much work as you can put into four innings.”

Ramírez was at it again in the third, hitting an RBI double ahead of Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly as the Guardians took a 4-0 lead.

Cleveland made it 5-0 off Ober in the fourth on Freeman’s RBI double, and the Guardians added two more in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Will Brennan and Manzardo’s double.

UP NEXT

Chris Paddack (4-2, 4.89 ERA) makes his first career start against Cleveland in the series finale against Guardians RHP Tanner Bibee (2-1, 4.34).

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