MINNEAPOLIS _ Twins manager Paul Molitor has become a little miffed by mistakes his team has made in recent days. It has been a factor in them losing six of their past seven games before Thursday.
As a result, he gathered the team at second base before Thursday's first game of an 11-game homestand to go over some baserunning gaffes. The bigger message was that they need to clean up their game, baserunning, defense, situational hitting. Everything.
"No excuses," Molitor said before the game. "There's no sympathy being thrown our way. You've got to go out and try to find a way to play better. That's one thing I can emphatically say, that we haven't played well enough to win. We've kind of gotten what we've deserved in a lot of these games."
So much for the pregame talk, as the Twins botched a few plays early while Cleveland took an 8-0 lead.
Then the Twins woke up to tie the score ... only to surrender the lead again in the eighth inning on Francisco Lindor's second home run of the game. Cleveland finished off a 9-8 victory to take a 6 {-game lead in the AL Central over the Twins.
The Twins scored two runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and four in the seventh to tie the score. It was the second night in a row the Twins scored eight runs after falling behind by at least eight.
And it came against a Cleveland bullpen that is not the pillar of strength it was a year ago.
But Lindor untied it with a home run to center against Addison Reed with two out in the eighth. It was the fourth home run Reed has given up this season, and all four have led directly to a Twins loss.
The go-ahead homer also was Lindor's fourth extra-base hit of the night. He started the night with two doubles off Jake Odorizzi.
Back-to-back singles by Robbie Grossman and Ryan LaMarre in the fifth inning produced two runs for the Twins. Back-to-back home runs by Logan Morrison and Eduardo Escobar in the sixth made it 8-4 and turned the boos into cheers.
Then the Twins got an RBI single in the seventh by Eddie Rosario to put two on for Miguel Sano. Indians manager Terry Francona countered with Zack McAllister.
McAllister's 0-1 pitch broke back in over the plate, and Sano powered it into the seats in right for a three-run homer to tie the game at 8.
Despite Molitor's pregame plea for cleaner play, the Twins fell behind thanks to:
_Brian Dozier _ and a Gold Glove winner at second base last year _ dropping a routine pop fly to short right field.
_Catcher Mitch Garver fumbling a throw from the outfield that would have nabbed Edwin Encarnacion at home plate.
_Rosario getting picked off of first base, following a strikeout by Sano.
_And right-hander Jake Odorizzi putting the Twins in an 8-0 hole while being knocked out of the game in the fourth inning. His 3 2/3-inning outing was his shortest of the season.
Meanwhile, some kid with a rock star's name shut the Twins down for nearly five innings in an attempt to win in his major league debut. Right-hander Shane Bieber faced the minimum through three innings.
