Guardians sweep Twins with walk-off home run on pitch Jhoan Duran didn’t want to throw

CLEVELAND – In a season that featured a poor 20-game start, followed by one of the best 20-game stretches in team history, the Twins are sitting at another low point.

After a chaotic top of the ninth inning in which the Cleveland Guardians blew a one-run lead without giving up a hit or a ball out of the infield, Twins closer Jhoan Duran surrendered a three-run, walk-off homer to Will Brennan with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in a 5-2 loss Sunday at Progressive Field.

The Twins, swept in a three-game series by a division rival, have lost six consecutive games, their longest losing streak of the season. Duran was charged with two losses this weekend, giving up late-inning homers on curveballs.

Duran said he wanted to start Brennan with a fastball after the Twins opted to intentionally walk Josh Naylor with first base open and two outs. After Duran received a mound visit from pitching coach Pete Maki, his first-pitch curveball was drilled over the right field wall.

“The first time, [the curveball] was on my own,” said Duran, referring to a go-ahead home run he allowed to José Ramírez on Friday. “This time, it’s not my decision. I thought [Brennan] wasn’t good with fastballs. I’m an employee here, so whatever I need to throw, I need to throw it.”

After the Twins’ record dropped to 0-5 against Cleveland this year, manager Rocco Baldelli met with players in the clubhouse to deliver a short message.

“It can feel like you are underneath something and nothing that you do is going to get you out of it,” Baldelli said. “There is a lot that we can do to get out of it, and I want our guys to know that. We’re very close. We’re an at-bat or two away. We’re just talking one or two at-bats in a row from winning today, from winning the first game of the series, and it’s that close.”

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The Twins have totaled nine runs during their six-game losing streak, and four of those runs came during the ninth inning Saturday in a game in which the Twins trailed by 11. Their lack of run support Sunday spoiled a strong start from Chris Paddack, who permitted a two-run homer to Andrés Giménez in the first inning and then retired 24 of his final 25 batters.

“I wanted to be a stopper today of this bad juju, putting pressure on ourselves again like we kind of did early on in the season,” said Paddack, who completed a career-high eight innings.

The Twins were gifted the tying run in the ninth after Ryan Jeffers was hit by a pitch with two outs. Byron Buxton beat shortstop Brayan Rocchio to the second base bag on a ground ball that could have ended the game. Then closer Emmanuel Clase dropped a routine flip from Naylor, the first baseman, and Buxton scored from second base after he was nearly caught in a rundown.

“You look at a play up the middle, nobody beats that out but Buck,” Paddack said. “Then the bobble at first, no one scores but Buck.”

Brennan, the right fielder, saved a run in the fifth inning when he made a sliding catch on a line drive hit by Carlos Santana with a runner on second base.