CLEVELAND - It's starting to feel like teams are playing for a tie against the Twins. They know how extra innings always go.
Minnesota blew a couple of leads but held on to force a 10th inning. But the Twins failed to score in their half, and Jordan Luplow crushed a home run off Twins' righthander Alexander Colome into the left-field bleachers in the bottom of the inning, handing the Twins their third straight loss and 12th in the past 14 games, 5-3 to Cleveland.
The Twins, now 7-14 on the year, fell to 0-5 in extra innings, and Colome absorbed his third loss.
Making it more painful was the fact that it appeared for awhile that the Twins' early-season peasants would rise up and storm Progressive Field. Four players in Minnesota's recently toothless lineup walked up to the plate, perhaps noticed their paltry sub-.200 batting averages in six-foot letters on the giant scoreboard, and proceeded to make a critical contribution to a run-scoring rally.
For Brent Rooker, hitting .095 coming it, it was a 412-foot homer to straightaway center field, his first of the season. For Alex Kirilloff, 0-for-15 in his career at that point, it was a double to deep left-center, a hit that moved Nelson Cruz to third base, where he would score when Jorge Polanco, batting .197 at the time, drove him home with a deep fly ball. Jake Cave ignored his .150 average and led off the eighth with a solid single to right, which turned into a tiebreaking run after two groundouts and Luis Arraez's single into the left-field corner.
But all that welcome assistance from their most slump-ridden corners still couldn't amount to enough to keep Cleveland at bay.
Jose Berrios surrendered a two-run lead before making a confusing and unexpected departure, and when the Twins went ahead once again, Tyler Duffey couldn't hold it, allowing Jose Ramirez to slice a home run just inside the right-field foul pole.
That set things up for extra innings, which have been cruel to the Twins all season.
BOXSCORE: Cleveland 5, Twins 3
Berrios was solid through the first five innings, allowing only three hits and twice working out of situations with runners on third with one out. But as has been the case all season, his third trip through Cleveland's lineup was much more difficult.
Opponents are batting .119 the first time they face Berrios, .184 the second time — and .500, in obviously far fewer chances, the third time. Sure enough, Berrios walked leadoff hitter Cesar Hernandez to open the sixth inning, and after two quick outs, surrendered a run-scoring double to former Twins teammate and fellow Puerto Rican Eddie Rosario.
Franmil Reyes followed with a single, scoring Rosario with the tying run, and Baldelli walked to the mound. After conferring with the righthander, though, he apparently decided to leave Berrios in, and turned around to head to the dugout. That's when home plate umpire Tom Hallion reminded him that pitching coach Wes Johnson had, three batters earlier, jogged to the mound for a quick conference with Berrios. By rule, a second visit requires a pitching change, and Baldelli was forced to summon Hansel Robles from the bullpen.
No harm done — Robles ended the inning by getting Josh Naylor to ground out — but it was an awkward mistake for a former Manager of the Year.
