CLEVELAND _ As Adalberto Mejia piled up the three-ball counts on Friday, the Twins looked like they were going to have another one of those bullpen-depleting outings by a starter.
When Mejia wasn't nibbling at the corners of the plate, he was missing by feet. The game was set up for the Indians to end Mejia's night with one big blow. But it never came.
Mejia twice escaped innings with the bases loaded, and one big inning by the Twins offense was all they needed in a 5-0 win over the AL central leading Indians. The Twins are 0-7 at home against Cleveland this season but, somehow, are 3-1 at Progressive Field. But this was not the night to ponder home-road reverse splits. The Twins are back to 1{ games behind the Indians in the division.
Mejia was winless in his previous five outings before Friday's far-from-a-gem. He needed 104 pitches to get through five innings. He went to three-ball counts seven times over the first three innings. Twins manager Paul Molitor had every right to pull after the third and fourth innings but, apparently, did not want to play reliever roulette against the defending AL champions.
He left Mejia in and watched him wiggle his way out of trouble _ as much as a 210-pound left-hander can wiggle.
After stranding two runners on base in the first inning, Mejia walked three during a 30-pitch second as he loaded the bases before striking out Erik Gonzalez to end the inning.
Mejia came off the mound yelling and pounding his fist into his glove. Perhaps it was the moment he needed to get him locked in.
It wasn't.
Mejia threw 21 pitches in the third, pushing his count to 68 as he entered the fourth. He gave up two singles then committed an error on Jason Kipnis' comebacker to load the bases with one out. He struck out Gonzalez for the second out and got Francisco Lindor to fly out to left to end the inning. He threw six consecutive pitches for strikes in that inning, easily his best run of the night.
Mejia had thrown a whopping 91 pitches through four innings, but was allowed to go out for the fifth. Finally, Mejia retired the side in order. And Molitor went to the bullpen, getting two shutout innings from Tyler Duffey.
It was far from classic game management by Mejia. One thing that hurt him early was that Jorge Polanco's error on Lindor's grounder with two outs in the first inning forced him to throw nine more pitches than he should have.
But as he moves forward, he has to figure out how to put opponents. Cleveland hitters fouled off 22 pitches on Friday, which will lead to five-inning outings every time out. He can be encouraged by not giving up a big hit _ Cleveland was 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position against him _ and he allowed just two hits.
The Twins, who played without third baseman Miguel Sano as he recovered from a sinus infection, broke through against Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer in the second. Max Kepler doubled and eventually scored on Eddie Rosario's infield hit. Jorge Polanco slugged a two-run homer. Brian Dozier hit an RBI double off the center-field wall to drive in Jason Castro. The Twins led 4-0.
They were quiet until the seventh, when Dozier chased Bauer with an RBI single to right. Dozier entered the game 4 for 32 in his career against Bauer.
