CLEVELAND _ Ervin Santana entered Friday coming off of his first loss of the season. And he approached his start determined to avoid a losing streak.
"I know he had a really good session out in the bullpen the other day," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I was watching. You could tell he was focusing on command. That's usually a good indicator early in the game, if he is getting that fastball over, which makes his other pitches better."
Well, the adjustments Santana attempted to make, for the most part, failed Friday.
But he still managed to shut Cleveland down for seven innings before the bullpen locked things up in the Twins 1-0 victory over the Indians. The Twins, who dealt the Indians their first shutout loss of the season, have won the first three games of their road trip.
Santana threw seven innings on two hits but walked a season-high five batters. But he managed to be on the winning side of a game in which Cleveland right-hander Josh Tomlin held the Twins to one run over eight.
A big reason why Santana was 5-1 entering Friday is that he was throwing his fastball, slider and changeup for strikes. Hitters had to account for all three pitches, making him tough to beat. But he walked three and gave up four home runs in his previous outing Sunday vs. Boston, and he needed to address some issues before facing Cleveland.
Santana's command was questionable one again. He walked two batters in third and had to pitch out of a jam. He walked the lead hitter in the fourth but stranded him.
Then Santana really played with fire in the fifth inning.
Yan Gomes singled to center and was bunted over to second. Santana fell behind to Carlos Santana before walking. Two batters later, Santana hit Michael Brantley with a 3-0 pitch to load the bases for Edwin Encarnacion.
Cleveland fans roared when Encarnacion laced a 1-0 pitch to center, but Byron Buxton caught it for the final out of the inning.
The Twins only run was provided by Miguel Sano, who drilled a fastball to right field in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. It was Sano's 10th home run of the season and fourth hit to right field. It's not by accident, as Sano works during batting practice to spray the entire field with batted balls.
"When he first came up, my feeling was that he felt he had to pull the ball and pad his home run numbers and be a contributor," Molitor said. "Just the confidence he has in the work he's put in. No part of the park is too big for him. We've seen the ball go out to the other field and center field. It's just so much a better approach. He's starting to trust that more."
For the second consecutive night, the Twins bullpen had to protect a late one-run lead.
Taylor Rogers started the eighth but gave up a one out single to Michael Brantley. Molitor brought on Matt Belisle, who walked two batters in the eighth inning on Thursday.
Encarnacion reached on a fielder's choice when Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer bumped while trying to catch a pop fly. Belisle then got Jason Kipnis to fly out to end the inning.
Brandon Kintzler, who recorded a five-out save on Thursday, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.
