MINNEAPOLIS — Matt Wallner let it fly and Royce Lewis let out a guttural roar.
Perhaps no moment that occurred during a wild Friday at Target Field better exemplified the spirit within the Minnesota Twins’ clubhouse than one young slugger’s reaction to his fellow power hitter’s jaw-dropping heroics.
Standing in the on-deck circle in the bottom of the fifth inning, Lewis exploded with delight when Wallner connected for a backbreaking, three-run home run that lifted the Twins to a 6-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians in front of 28,605.
The team’s comeback victory in the nightcap not only enabled the Twins to sweep a doubleheader from the first-place Guardians, but it also demonstrated the perseverance of a team that only 12 hours earlier announced a series of catastrophic injuries that potentially harm its chances of repeating as American League Central champion.
After Brock Stewart’s announcement he’ll have season-ending surgery and the possible end of Joe Ryan’s season, Lewis said the Twins, who won the opener 4-2, “out-baseballed” Cleveland for 18 innings to move within 1 1/2 games of first place.
“A tough morning,” Wallner said. “But I feel like we carry the torch and felt good with where we’re at regardless. … You never want to dwell on anything. It’s definitely a big loss. But just going out and winning two shows you what we can do, even on a tough day.”
Only minutes before Wallner’s big blast, the Twins faced their third biggest gut check of the day, though easily the biggest one they encountered on the field. Nothing the Twins would come across in Friday’s doubleheader is likely to equal the loss of Ryan, who leads his rotation in innings pitched and strikeouts, or Stewart.
Ryan received surprising news when an MRI revealed a Grade 2 teres major strain that could cost him the rest of the season. Meanwhile, Stewart is expected to miss five to six months after undergoing arthroscopic right shoulder surgery Tuesday. The team also placed rookie infielder Brooks Lee on the injured list.
But Josh Naylor delivered a different kind of blow in the top of the fifth when he belted a hanging two-strike curveball from Louie Varland for a three-run homer to put the Guardians in front 3-2. In an instant, Varland, who could replace Ryan in the rotation, went from throwing a gem to leaving with his team trailing.
The Twins didn’t flinch.
They put together a two-out rally of their own in the bottom half of the fifth as Willi Castro singled on an 0-2 fastball and Trevor Larnach moved him to third with a single of his own. Wallner worked the count 3-0 by taking a close fastball in for a ball and watching as two Alex Cobb splitters dropped well below the zone. Swinging all the way, Wallner blasted a 94 mph sinker out to right to put the Twins in front 5-3.
Mic’d up for AppleTV, Lewis unleashed a series of delightful yells as Wallner rounded the bases.
“There was a lot of passion on the field,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “There was a lot of emotion on the field. … Those types of swings change the game. We saw two of them basically in an inning. We felt it, and then we got one ourselves. They turned the game right on its head.”
“He told me, he said Ima get him”
He got ’em. pic.twitter.com/w14HAlXOCu
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2024
The Twins bullpen and some more nifty base running did the rest.
After recording the final out of the top of the fifth, Cole Sands easily set down the three batters he faced in the sixth. Caleb Thielbar retired all six batters he faced in two pristine innings to preserve the lead. Trevor Richards rebounded from a disastrous appearance in relief of Ryan on Wednesday, pitching a perfect ninth to earn a save.
Before Thielbar’s second inning of work, Christian Vázquez helped the Twins steal a run. He drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Austin Martin’s single. Two outs later, Vázquez, who earlier scored from first base in the second inning on Martin’s infield single and a Brayan Rocchio throwing error, made another play with his feet.
With an energetic crowd roaring, Vázquez tried to distract Cleveland pitcher Tim Herrin by racing down the third-base line and slamming on the brakes. As he returned to the base, Herrin apparently flinched, which drew a balk call from plate ump Jim Wolf, led to the ejection of Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and made it 6-3.
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 10, 2024
The Twins also scored their first run of the second game when Castro stole home after Wallner attempted to steal second base on a full-count pitch to Lewis, who drew a walk.
“That’s an extra run,” Lewis said. “We just out-baseballed them.”
Bailey Ober set the tone for a good day of Twins baseball in the opener. He worked through first-inning fastball command issues to deliver a quick zero. Visibly disappointed after he walked Daniel Schneemann with one out, Ober retired José Ramirez and Naylor, striking out the latter with a changeup below the zone.
Ober worked around a two-out single in the second inning as well and then went to work, retiring seven in a row. Even when Ober walked Andrés Giménez and yielded a single to Will Brennan to start the fifth inning, the Twins pitcher didn’t break. He struck out Brayan Rocchio and Bo Naylor and ended the inning by getting Steven Kwan to fly out to right.
Ober nearly was perfect in his final inning, striking out Schneemann and Ramírez, but he bobbled Josh Naylor’s comebacker. Five pitches later, Ober stranded the runner with an easy fly ball out off Lane Thomas’ bat.
Throwing a career-high 106 pitches, Ober struck out nine over six scoreless innings, limiting Cleveland to two hits and two walks. Ober’s outing was his ninth in a row of at least six innings, each of which is a quality start. In that span, he’s lowered his ERA from 5.13 to 3.52.
“We’re ready for this series,” Ober said. “It’s tough when guys go down, especially with how they’ve been doing. We’re hurting for them. We’re hoping they can get as healthy as they can. We’re just going to try to go out there and play our baseball.”
The Twins jumped on the board early in support of Ober.
Manny Margot had a leadoff double in the first inning, advanced on Byron Buxton’s fly out to right and scored on a Lewis RBI groundout. Carlos Santana’s solo homer in the second inning made it 2-0, and Ryan Jeffers’ solo shot in the fourth increased the lead to three runs.
After Cleveland reduced the lead to a run on a Rocchio two-run homer off Jorge Alcala, the Twins added an insurance run in the seventh. Max Kepler doubled, Castro singled and Kyle Farmer — who wasn’t even supposed to be here — hit a sac fly to make it a 4-2 game.
“I give the credit to the front office the way we were built, the way our minor-league system is doing right now and all the great players we have that are coming up and getting the job done,” injured shortstop Carlos Correa said in between games. “It’s a collective effort. … Everybody involved in the process is doing a beautiful job keeping us competitive even through all the injuries.”
Despite the injury to Stewart, the back end of the bullpen continues to do its part. Though Alcala had a hiccup in the opener, allowing his third homer in seven games, he rebounded and retired the final two batters of the seventh to pass the baton. Griffin Jax followed with a perfect inning, and Jhoan Duran struck out three batters in a scoreless ninth to win the day game.
“There was a lot going on this morning, and it didn’t seem to be on anybody’s mind once the games started,” Baldelli said. “You can’t ask for any better ability to hone in. It was a very good day of baseball.”
(Photo of Matt Wallner and Willi Castro: Jordan Johnson / USA Today)
