CLEVELAND _ Long, prodigious home runs have carried the Twins over the past couple of seasons. But even the dinkiest homers have been brutal to Jose Berrios in 2020.
The Twins' righthander delivered another grueling performance on Wednesday, the talent and the determination evident, but the results only partially satisfying. Not really satisfying at all, actually, considering Sergio Romo gave up a trio of eighth-inning runs and the Twins lost to Cleveland for the second straight night, 6-3.
Minnesota's AL Central lead down to a half-game now, after Cleveland rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Berrios and knocked Romo around during a sloppy eighth inning to end the Twins' streak of four straight series victories.
Berrios allowed seven hits and four walks while recording 17 outs, a problematic ratio that he may have overcome anyway if not for another recurring theme: The gut-punch home run. Jose Ramirez did the honors this time, following a Delino DeShields single and a Cesar Hernandez walk with a lazy fly ball that clanged off the bottom of the right-field foul pole, at 352 feet perhaps the shortest home run possible in Progressive Field. So short, in fact, that umpires chose to double-check on video whether it actually reached the pole.
Unimpressive or not, the homer was the fifth that Berrios has allowed this season, and the damage has been immense: Three of them have come with two runners on base, and four of the five ae either broken a tie or erased a Twins' lead.
It's a shame for the Twins, too, considering all that Max Kepler accomplished in such a short time. The Twins' right fielder crushed the third pitch of the game, a fastball over the heart of the plate, 414 feet into the right-field stands, his 99th career home run and 12th at Progressive Field. It was his ninth career leadoff home run, and third in Cleveland _ the same number he has hit at Target Field.
In the bottom of the inning, Kepler saved at least one run by making an athletic, running catch of a two-out Franmil Reyes fly ball with two runners on base, just before it hit the right-field wall.
But Kepler fouled a pitch off his right foot while batting in the top of the second, and was removed from the game. Nothing was broken, just bruised, the Twins announced, and Kepler is listed as day-to-day.
The Twins score again off Mike Clevinger, who made his first start since being recalled from exile after breaking the team's quarantine rules, and lying about it, earlier this month. Miguel Sano doubled and LaMonte Wade singled him home, but Clevinger didn't allow another run.
Oliver Perez did, though, in his third appearance of the series. Pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza greeted Perez with a double off the center field wall to open the seventh, Alex Avila moved him to third with a deep fly ball, and Jake Cave, Kepler's replacement, blooped an RBI single into right, tying the game.
But it all came undone in the bottom of the eighth. Carlos Santana grounded a single off Luis Arraez's glove, and Romo walked Franmil Reyes. Tyler Naquin then drilled a line drive just inside the foul line in the left-field corner, breaking the tie, and Greg Allen drove in Reyes with a sacrifice fly. Cleveland added another run on a Hernandez single to right, scoring Nyquin..
