CLEVELAND — The Twins lost, 5-3, to Cleveland in 10 innings Saturday, making for their eighth extra-inning loss this season in eight tries.
Luis Arraez, as the Twins' automatic runner on second, made it only as far as third base after a wild pitch. A line out from Josh Donaldson and strikeouts by Max Kepler and Miguel Sano left the Twins scoreless in the 10th.
Cleveland, meanwhile, needed only two pitches from Alexander Colome. Cesar Hernandez smacked a walk-off homer down the left-field line and into the stands.
Cleveland (24-19) built a 3-0 lead through two innings, but the Twins (16-29) erased it by the sixth.
Neither Twins starter Kenta Maeda nor Cleveland starter Shane Bieber had outings befitting the top two pitchers in last year's AL Cy Young Award voting. Maeda, who finished second to Bieber last year for the honor, hit Jose Ramirez in the thigh with his first pitch before giving up a home run on his very next delivery, to Franmil Reyes. A double by Amed Rosario and an RBI single by Austin Hedges — who snapped an 0-for-14 slump — gave Cleveland the three-run lead in the second.
Maeda retired the next eight consecutive batters, allowing only a fifth-inning walk. But he mysteriously exited before the sixth inning. The mound was empty for an awkward amount of time before Jorge Alcala came sprinting up, looking and pitching a bit flustered.
Maeda had been dealing with groin tightness since his most recent start, though he has dealt with the issue before and pitched through it. It's unclear if his abrupt departure was related to that, though manager Rocco Baldelli said pregame he believed Maeda was ready to play.
"He was adamant. He was very upfront about telling us that he's ready to pitch," Baldelli said pregame. "… He says, 'I am definitely good to go.' And Kenta's a guy, when you've talked to him, and you actually sit him down and ask him straightforward questions, he's going to give you a straightforward answer. He's going to let you know exactly how he's doing."
After his five innings, Maeda had allowed three earned runs on three hits, with one walk and six strikeouts.
The Twins got to Bieber early. Rob Refsnyder continued his hot hitting when he led off the third with a line-drive single. He later scored the Twins' first run on Josh Donaldson's sacrifice fly.
Miguel Sano homered in the fourth, and Max Kepler hit a leadoff triple in the sixth inning. After Sano struck out, Alex Kirilloff singled sharply to right to score Kepler.
Cleveland lost Reyes in the sixth inning when he appeared to injure his lower back/oblique area while fouling a ball back. Jordan Luplow had to enter to finish the at-bat.
