CLEVELAND — Christian Vázquez didn't get to flip his bat when he tied Tuesday's game with a sixth-inning home run, because he wasn't certain the ball would stay fair. So he made up for it by twirling his bat away in celebration when he belted a leadoff single to open the eighth.
Twins barrel past Guardians 8-3 with huge eighth inning, take seven-game lead in AL Central
The Twins broke open a tie with a five-run rally capped with a bases-clearing triple by Donovan Solano that bounced past the Guardians center fielder. Christian Vázquez started the inning with his second key hit of the game.
September 6, 2023 at 11:34AM
He must have sensed its importance.
Vázquez's line drive to center triggered the Twins' fourth five-run inning in the first five games of this offensively supercharged road trip. Minnesota rode that outburst to an 8-3 victory at Progressive Field, a win that widened the Twins' American League Central lead to seven games.
The Twins have scored 47 runs in five games on this weeklong road trip and reduced their magic number for clinching their third division title in Rocco Baldelli's five seasons as manager to 17. So yeah, they're in a good mood, a stark contrast to last September, when they lost four of five in Cleveland amid a September collapse.
"Sometimes, somebody needs to show some emotions," Vázquez, who reached base four times, said of his overjoyed bat toss. "It was a big knock. We needed that. Good start to the inning, so good emotion."
He showed that glee, too, after slicing a high-and-outside fastball from Matt Moore the opposite way. It floated 361 feet down the line but stayed just inside the right-field foul pole, Vázquez's sixth homer of the season and second on their road trip. The Twins catcher jumped in the air as the ball disappeared and raised his arm as he circled the bases.
"When you're playing really good — and we have a few guys doing that now — they should enjoy it," Baldelli said. "He's just pumped about his own play and all the moments he's coming through. I'd be excited, too."
The bat flip came later, and the Twins quickly had more chances to celebrate. Willi Castro followed Vázquez's leadoff hit by snaking a double down the left-field line, and Jorge Polanco hit a one-out fly ball to right field that was deep enough to score pinch runner Joey Gallo.
Then the inning really got messy for the Guardians and reliever Trevor Stephan, who walked Max Kepler and Royce Lewis to load the bases.
A wild pitch scored Castro, hitting Carlos Correa with another pitch loaded the bases again, and Donovan Solano hit a sinking line drive that center fielder Myles Straw allowed to bounce past him and roll to the wall.
"Run! I mean, run!" Solano said he thought as he watched Straw misplay the ball. "It was enough for me to get to third and get all three runs home to secure the game."
Solano was credited with a three-run triple, and the Twins had another five-run inning.
That made the task for the Twins' bullpen easy, and Griffin Jax, Caleb Thielbar and Emilio Pagán dispatched the Guardians with no problems.
The night was a little rougher for Sonny Gray, who held the first five hitters in Cleveland's lineup to two singles and a walk in 15 plate appearances, but allowed the bottom of the order to keep causing him trouble. Hitters six through nine combined to go 4-for-7 with a walk against Gray, including eighth-place hitter Bo Naylor's two-run homer in the third inning.
But when Baldelli came to the mound with two runners on base and one out in the sixth, Gray convinced him to leave him in.
"He said, 'What do you got? How do you feel like this?' " Gray said. "When the manager comes out to the mound and leaves you in the game, it gives you a little bit of a boost. It really does."
"His response was more than, 'I can do it,' " Baldelli said. "It was, 'It's mine. I got it.' And he did."
Gray struck out Andrés Giménez and ended the inning on a Gabriel Arias fly ball, then watched the Twins go on to score six more runs.
The Twins are averaging 7.3 runs per game in their past 12 games, all against Texas and Cleveland, and 9.4 on this trip. They now have a seven-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central and reduced their magic number — the combination of Twins wins and Guardians losses needed to clinch the title — to 17.
"We're seeing the ball good, hitting the ball good. Everything is together as a team, especially this series," Solano said. "That's a good sign for us."
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