MINNEAPOLIS _ They won with power, they won with sharp starting pitching, and on Sunday, they won with a bullpen that tag-teamed Cleveland into oblivion. If this weekend's four games were a preview of this bizarre season's AL Central race, well, there might not actually be one.
Six Twins relief pitchers limited Cleveland to two hits and one run, and Minnesota won its third straight game of the series, and third straight series of the season with a 3-1 victory at Target Field. Max Kepler doubled twice and scored both times, and Mitch Garver roped his first homer of the season into the bleachers in left-center, but the Twins' offense was otherwise quiet in their quiet ballpark.
Didn't matter, not with a fresh arm _ and more important, an effective one _ on the mound almost every inning.
Tyler Clippard started by retiring all six batters he faced, and it set a tone for the day. Matt Wisler, Tyler Duffey, Trevor May and Sergio Romo all held Cleveland hitless for an inning or more, the latter picking up his second save of the season.
Only Devin Smeltzer, who retired seven of the 10 batters he faced, faced more than nominal difficulty. He surrendered a leadoff double to Cesar Hernandez in the fourth inning, and Francisco Lindor turned it into Cleveland's lone run by bouncing a ball off the left-field fence. But Eddie Rosario grabbed the ball, wheeled and rifled it to second base, snuffing any further rally by retiring Lindor with the Twins' first outfield assist of the year.
Kepler led off the first inning with a drive that bounced off the right-field foul line and off one of Target Field's 45,000 empty seats, a ground-rule double. Jorge Polanco followed by reaching for an outside pitch off Cleveland starter Aaron Cingale and blooping it into left field, driving in Kepler.
An inning later, Garver lined a 3-2 changeup into the seats near the bullpens, and pointed in celebration as he ran the bases. Kepler finished the scoring in the third inning with another double, followed an out later by a Nelson Cruz single up the middle, Cruz's 12th RBI of the season.
In taking three out of four games from their closest 2019 pursuer, the Twins improved to 7-2 on the season, and moved 2 { games in front of Cleveland. They also improved to 5-1 on this homestand with a week's worth of games against last-place Pittsburgh and Kansas City up next.
