MINNEAPOLIS – Travis Bazzana knew if he kept getting on base, eventually someone would drive him in. And it happened just in time for the Guardians.
Bazzana had two singles, walked twice and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth on a wild pitch as the Guardians rallied to defeat the Twins, 5-2, on Friday at Target Field.
“I'm relaxed in the box. Everything feels smooth, and early and easy, and when I'm doing that, I'm tracking the ball well,” said Bazzana, who has nine hits and four walks in his past six games. “If I'm seeing the ball early out of the hand, good things happen after that.”
Manager Stephen Vogt put it even more simply: “When we get guys on base, good things happen, and Baz got it going for us every time out there.”
With Toronto’s 7-4 loss to Baltimore earlier in the day, the Guardians stretched their lead to two games over the Blue Jays in the race for the third American League Wild Card spot. And with the White Sox losing 7-3 to the Cardinals, the Guardians are just a half-game back in the AL Central.
“Every single day, we just want to win,” said Angel Martínez, who had two huge extra-base hits in the late innings. “We're just going to go out there and try to win. So no pressure at all. Like, that's how we play. That's what we do.”
Bazzana got on base to start an inning in each of his four plate appearances. He finally came around to score in the seventh when Martínez launched a first-pitch fastball from lefty A.J. Minter a Statcast-projected 445 feet into the stands in left-center.
Martínez’s career OPS as a righty is about 150 points higher than when he swings left-handed. But in the ninth, he came up against a righty, Twins closer Yoendrys Gómez, with Bazzana on first and laced a double into the right-field corner.
That moved Bazzana to third, and he scored when a pitch in the dirt got away from catcher Ryan Jeffers. Brayan Rocchio doubled home two runs to provide the final margin.
“He's really starting to catch his stride,” Vogt said. “We all know what he can do right-handed, but what he's doing left-handed is really impressive.”
The Guardians weren’t limited by a lack of chances early. They got their leadoff man on base in each of the first four innings against Twins starter Taj Bradley, who walked Steven Kwan in the first. Bazzana in the second and Rocchio in the third before giving up a single to Bazzana in the fourth.
But Kwan didn’t move off first base in the first, nor did Bazzana in the second. Rocchio advanced to second base after Bradley walked Chase DeLauter in the third, but that was as far as he got. And in the fourth, Bazzana was doubled off first when Royce Lewis speared a Martinez line drive.
But Bazzana just kept getting on base, which eventually led to the Guardians’ two crooked numbers that won the game.
“We continue to come up [big] in moments where we need to,” Bazzana said. “And so it's just like, get on base and do my job, and someone's going to step up when it matters.”