CLEVELAND -- On Saturday night, the Minnesota Twins' offense consisted of two hits from Byron Buxton.
Sunday’s game was much more of a team effort, as the Twins’ offense racked up 13 hits in their 5-4 win over the Guardians.
Minnesota’s big performance was buoyed by a combined 6-for-11 showing from the bottom three hitters of the lineup (Kody Clemens, Brooks Lee and Royce Lewis).
Clemens scored Minnesota’s first run in the third inning on a wild pitch from Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (he reached base on a double and advanced to third on a single) and helped jump-start a big fifth inning with a leadoff double.
Lee and Lewis quickly followed him with hits of their own before Byron Buxton, Josh Bell and Austin Martin racked up hits once the lineup flipped back over.
That offensive performance helped back up a day of successful pitching chaos for the Twins. With scheduled starter Taj Bradley on the shelf with right pec inflammation, manager Derek Shelton was forced to turn to a mishmash of young relievers and journeyman veterans.
And they were able to answer the call.
Andrew Morris started the game with a scoreless inning as an opener (marking the first time he’s thrown in back-to-back games in his career) before giving way to Kendry Rojas, who allowed just one run over 3 1/3 innings of bulk work to pick up his first big league win.
While there were some dicey moments once Rojas left (Travis Adams allowed two earned runs and the Guardians got the go-ahead run on base in the eighth inning against Luis García), Minnesota’s smattering of relievers was able to do just enough to close the door.