MINNEAPOLIS _ Just when the Twins' pursuit of the AL Central leaders appeared entirely futile, just when they stood on the verge of being swept in all 10 home games against Cleveland, Aaron Slegers arrived to keep hope, however faint and illogical, alive.
The rookie right-hander, the fourth starting pitcher to make his major-league debut with the Twins this summer, faced 22 batters and recorded 19 outs on Thursday, allowing just two hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings as the Twins held on for a 4-2 victory _ their one and only win at Target Field against the Indians this summer.
The victory, which came courtesy of a Max Kepler home run in the seventh inning, gave the Twins a split of the day-night doubleheader, and kept them a half-dozen games behind Cleveland in an admittedly long, uphill climb to a division title. But it also kept them just one game behind the Angels for a wild-card berth.
Minnesota, unable to convert on multiple chances to drive in runs from third base, lost the afternoon half of the two-game day, 9-3.
The night game, a makeup of Wednesday's rainout that was played before fewer than 10,000 fans, wasn't all positive for the Twins, however. Robbie Grossman, the team's regular designated hitter, suffered a fractured left thumb during a collision with Byron Buxton while chasing a fly ball in the second inning. He's likely headed for the disabled list, and the remainder of his season may be in doubt.
Slegers, a fifth-round pick out of Indiana University in 2013, received a loud ovation from the crowd as he departed in the seventh inning, after delivering one of the best debuts by a Twins pitcher in decades. Not since Pat Mahomes in 1992 and Brad Havens in 1981 had a Twins rookie pitched six or more innings and allowed only two hits in his first big-league game.
Using a fastball that clocked in as high as 94 mph and a changeup in the mid-80s, Slegers, called up just for the day as the designated "26th man," retired the first seven batters he faced, walked Roberto Perez, and quickly erased him with a double-play grounder. Only when Jay Bruce connected with a 3-2 fastball, driving it into the seats in right field in the fourth inning, did Slegers give up a hit. And he responded by retiring another eight consecutive batters before an Edwin Encarnacion's single caused Twins manager Paul Molitor to remove him with one out in the seventh inning, leading 2-1.
The lead quickly vanished, however, when Carlos Santana greeted reliever Trevor Hildenberger with a line drive into the right-field corner, and Kepler slipped as he tried to field it. The ball reached the wall for a triple, tying the game. But Kepler redeemed himself in the bottom of the inning, blasting a pitch from Mike Clevinger into the right-field stands, the eighth time among his 32 career homers that he's connected against Cleveland.
The Twins added another run in the eighth when Eduardo Escobar's 100th career double scored Ehire Adrianza with an insurance run.
The day's first game was far slower and less heartening for the Twins, who struck out 19 times, a new franchise record in a nine-inning game.
The Indians, who outscored Minnesota 32-9 from the seventh inning on at Target Field this season, turned a 3-2 game into another rout when Gomes connected on a three-run homer off Ryan Pressly. The Twins had no such timely hit, though they had plenty of chances: Minnesota put three runners on third base in the game, had eight different batters try to drive them home, and failed every time _ six of them by striking out.
Kyle Gibson surrendered two runs in the first inning by giving up three hits to the first five hitters he faced; Bruce had a two-run single. Another run scored on Jason Kipnis' two-out hit in the second, and Gibson lasted only four innings, the seventh time in his 21 starts that he has failed to pitch five innings.
