MINNEAPOLIS _ Several scouting reports on Ervin Santana will undoubtedly be filed this month in front offices around the major leagues. Some might note that the veteran Twins right-hander couldn't get out of the sixth inning Friday night, that he gave up four runs, that he only had two clean innings.
Others might say: If his glove was two inches to the right, he probably has a quality start, perhaps even a victory.
On such random acts, trade possibilities may depend.
Santana, a possible trade target for contenders before baseball's July 31 nonwaiver deadline, gave up three consecutive hits in the sixth inning Friday night, an abrupt Indians rally that eventually powered Cleveland to a 5-2 victory over the Twins at Target Field in the first game for both teams out of the All-Star break.
Santana, who owned a 1.63 ERA over his previous four starts and had begun showing up in trade rumors around the league, was protecting a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning when Francisco Lindor and Mike Napoli lined back-to-back singles. Jose Ramirez followed with a liner of his own, but directly at Santana, who raised his glove to catch it. Had he succeeded, he could easily have doubled up one of the runners and ended the inning, posting his third consecutive quality start.
Instead, the ball struck the heel of Santana's glove and ricocheted into center field, scoring Lindor with the go-ahead run and inducing Twins manager Paul Molitor to remove him.
Trevor May then walked Lonnie Chisenhall to load the bases and followed that by throwing a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing Napoli to score a run charged to Santana.
It was May's eighth wild pitch of the season, more than any reliever in the major leagues, and the run was his fourth he has given up this year on such a mistake.
Cleveland made it 5-2 in the seventh inning when Napoli launched a homer to center off Twins right-hander Ryan Pressly.
It was also a lackluster beginning to the season's second half for the Twins, who rode into the break on the momentum of a 7-2 hot streak that included five victories over the league-leading Texas Rangers.
Facing Carlos Carrasco, the Indians right-hander who had won three of his past four starts in impressive fashion, the Twins offense that scored 38 runs last weekend in four games at Texas was held to just an occasional hit. Brian Dozier produced a sacrifice fly in the first inning to stake Santana to an early lead, and he followed up three innings later with his 15th home run of the season, making him the Twins' leader in homers once again.
But Carrasco retired nine of the last 12 hitters he faced, and he lowered his ERA to 2.49 with an impressive 62/3-inning performance.
Cleveland scored twice off Santana in the fourth inning, aided by a Miguel Sano error at third base, his fifth in the past seven games. After a walk and Sano's throwing error, Ramirez pounded a single to left that scored one run, and Chisenhall grounded out to bring another run home.
Joe Mauer ended that threat, however, with a diving catch of Yan Gomes' liner, which he turned into an inning-ending double play. The sort of play, in fact, that Santana wishes he had made two innings later.
There were two exceptional defensive plays by Twins outfielders earlier in the game, too. Napoli's drive off the wall was played cleanly by Byron Buxton, who threw out Napoli at second. And Carlos Santana's ball off the right-field wall in the third inning was similarly fielded quickly by Max Kepler, a play that held Santana to a single and Tyler Naquin at third, and Cleveland failed to score in the inning.
