CLEVELAND -- With 60 games left in the season, and still nearly two weeks until the Trade Deadline, there simply is no such thing as a single must-win game.
But Wednesday night came awfully close.
Facing a four-game losing streak and the possibility of a second straight season hitting the rocks in the first week after the All-Star break, Minnesota righted the ship at a critical time. The Twins overcame an injury to Victor Caratini, a substandard start from Bailey Ober and yet another early deficit to claim a desperately needed 10-6 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field.
With Taj Bradley scheduled to start Thursday’s road-trip finale before a seemingly manageable homestand against the scuffling Athletics and Royals, there’s absolutely a chance for Wednesday’s win to start one more pre-Deadline surge. Twice already this season, the Twins have wobbled, falling to the edges of contention, before climbing back up the standings. It’s not too late to do that.
But if they’d lost Wednesday, that hill would have looked a good bit steeper.
Brooks Lee’s three-run homer off Slade Cecconi was the biggest blow, but the main story of the night was that the Minnesota offense looked like its usual relentless self. Trevor Larnach led off the game with a homer. Lee and Josh Bell drove in runs in the third to tie it up after the visitors had fallen behind.
And then in the fourth, a lineup that had scuffled just a bit for a few days broke out. Alan Roden reached on an error, Luke Keaschall singled and Alex Jackson singled to put the Twins ahead, 4-3. Larnach flied out to the warning track for the second out, but Lee made sure the Twins capitalized, jumping a first-pitch sinker and drilling it a Statcast-projected 401 feet and over the wall in straightaway center.
The Twins never looked back, getting five strong innings from the bullpen and adding three more runs against the Cleveland relief corps in the eighth.