CLEVELAND _ A loud Indians fan bellowed, "Robbie Grossman, you're not a good baseball player!" during a quiet moment as Grossman led off the sixth inning. Thusly motivated, Grossman promptly doubled.
But the Twins' outfielder really put the heckler in his place an inning later. Batting with the bases loaded and two outs, Grossman belted a two-strike fastball from Cody Allen into right field, driving home the tying and go-ahead runs, and the Twins held on for a 4-3 victory in Progressive Field.
The win broke Minnesota's four-game losing streak and tied the season series with Cleveland at nine victories apiece, with the rubber match coming in Thursday afternoon's finale.
Kohl Stewart wasn't credited with the victory, having departed with two outs in the fifth inning, but the rookie contributed a remarkable performance _ after the first inning. Stewart needed 36 pitches to escape a rough, two-run first inning, finally getting Yan Gomes, the Indians' eighth hitter, to ground out with the bases loaded. Stewart's night surely would have ended right there had Gomes collected Cleveland's fourth hit or third walk of the inning.
Instead, the rookie right-hander returned and recorded 11 more outs, eight of them consecutively, before Jose Ramirez's two-out single and Edwin Encarnacion's RBI double in the fifth.
Stewart, who has allowed three runs in all four of his major-league starts, didn't walk a batter after the first inning, and struck out two. He hasn't lasted through the fifth inning yet, but in his last two outings, he missed by one out, keeping the Twins in games they ultimately rallied to win.
Willians Astudillo smacked his first career home run in the third inning, crushing a belt-high fastball more than 400 feet over the high wall in left-center field. Two innings later, Joe Mauer briefly tied the game, scoring from second base on Eddie Rosario's double to deep center field.
The run was the 1,000th of Mauer's Twins career, making him the third player ever to reach that milestone; only Kirby Puckett (1,071) and Harman Killebrew (1,047) ever had more for Minnesota.
But it was Grossman, playing in order to give Max Kepler a day off, who had the biggest hit. Indians manager Terry Francona chose to use closer Cody Allen in the seventh inning, in hopes of breaking a streak of poor pitching; Allen had allowed runs in three of his previous four appearances. But the move backfired when, after retiring Astudillo and Mauer to open the inning, lost control of the strike zone. He walked Logan Forsythe on five pitches, gave up a single to Rosario, and walked Miguel Sano on four pitches, bring up Grossman with the bases loaded.
The outfielder got behind 1-2, then turned on a high, inside fastball and drove it between first and second base, scoring two runs despite Sano being thrown out trying to advance to third base.
The Twins' bullpen made the slim lead hold up, with Trevor May recording four outs, Taylor Rogers six, and Trevor Hildenberger the final three, earning his fifth save of the season.
