MINNEAPOLIS _ The defending AL Central champions on Friday began their toughest stretch of the season, with the first of three games against Cleveland followed by a week in Chicago before series against the White Sox and Cubs _ with all four teams with at least 26 victories on the season. The opposing pitcher on Friday was the 7-0 Shane Bieber, the Cy Young favorite who shut them out for eight innings on July 30 and has gone on to dominate.
And the challenge was accepted as the Twins won, 3-1, while shrugging off a benches-clearing incident along the way.
The Twins battled the elements early as well as Cleveland, as the start of the game was delayed 42 minutes by rain. The first few innings were played in a steady mist that covered Target Field. The covering over the pitcher's mound was not taken off until Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda emerged from the dugout to begin the game. Head groundskeeper Larry Divito kept crew chief Mark Carlson abreast of any weather changes between the first couple of innings, at one point pulling out his smartphone to show him radar readings.
The weather became more important as the Twins took a 2-0 lead over Bieber in the second inning.
Jake Cave, in the lineup on Friday partially because he was 5 for 12 against Bieber, stroked a one-out double to left-center. Byron Buxton stepped to the plate, got a first-pitch slider and cannoned it into the seats in left for two-run homer.
That's not supposed to happen to Bieber, not this season. The right-hander had not given up a home run since Aug. 9 when White Sox catcher James McCann got him. Since then, Bieber had not allowed a home run in 32 innings.
Moreover, Buxton's rocket was measured at 115.6 miles per hour, the hardest hit ball off of Bieber this season.
Bieber wasn't the only hyped pitcher on the mound Friday, as Maeda has had a strong season in his first year with the Twins, punctuated by the no-hitter he took into the ninth inning on Aug. 18 in Milwaukee before losing it. His overall numbers aren't as eye-catching as Bieber but, on Friday, Maeda was the better overall pitcher.
Maeda pitched seven shutout innings, as his fastball-slider-change-up mix worked over a Cleveland offense that had scored just one run over its two previous games.
Bieber gave up two runs over the first six innings on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
But it was Maeda's all-around performance that stood out, not just pitching. In the fifth, he pounced from the mound to field a Tyler Naquin's slow roller down the first base line and flipped the ball out of his glove to Miguel Sano for the first out in the inning.
Francisco Lindor led off the sixth with a single to right. With Caesar Hernandez at the plate, Maeda started firing pickoff throws. He got ahead 0-1 on Hernandez, then threw to first. Hernandez swing and missed for strike two then fouled off a pitch before Maeda tried another pickoff throw. Hernandez fouled off a slider, then Maeda made three consecutive throws to first. And the third one arrived before Lindor got back to first, and he was tagged out. Carlson, the first base umpire, initially called Lindor safe, but replays backed up the Twins challenge.
It cemented how Maeda controlled things, pitching, fielding and controlling the running game.
Catcher Ryan Jeffers added an insurance run with his second career homer. The benches cleared in the eighth inning after Sergio Romo retired Lindor, though it did not appear as though any punches were thrown.
Jose Ramirez homered in the ninth inning off Taylor Rogers, but the left-hander still nailed down the save.
