CLEVELAND _ A disappointing weekend for the Indians at least finished with a small bright spot.
Trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the sixth and staring at a disastrous series sweep, the Indians came from behind Sunday to beat the Minnesota Twins 7-5 at Progressive Field.
Jason Kipnis doubled and Franmil Reyes walked to put the tying runs on base. Greg Allen grounded a dribbler to second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who booted it for an error to allow a run score. The Twins then turned to reliever Kyle Gibson to face catcher Roberto Perez, who belted a three-run home run and spiked his bat on the ground in a release of frustration after the Indians' doubleheader loss on Saturday.
Barring a total meltdown, the Twins (91-58) are likely to win to the American League Central Division. But the Indians (87-63) are still locked in a close race with the Oakland A's (89-60) and Tampa Bay Rays (89-61) for a wild card spot and desperately needed to win on Sunday to keep pace.
Only a few minutes before Perez's blast, the Indians were headed to a worst-case-scenario weekend. With All-Star MVP Shane Bieber on the mound, they entered the sixth with a 2-1 lead before it all unraveled.
First, Eddie Rosario hit his second home run in as many days to tie it 2-2. Willians Astudillo walked and, with two outs, LaMonte Wade belted his first career home run to right-center field to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.
After Perez put the Indians back in front, Mike Freeman added an RBI single in the seventh to make it 7-5.
Luis Arraez drew a lead-off walk in the ninth, but James Hoyt struck out the next two batters and Oliver Perez came on to retire the dangerous Edwin Rosario, who already had three hits in the game, on a foul out for his first save.
