MINNEAPOLIS _ Exhaustion never seemed like a great strategy for winning games, so maybe it shouldn't surprise the Twins that their lack-of-sleep magic finally failed them on Sunday.
For the third time this month, the Twins played a day game immediately after claiming an after-midnight victory the night before, but this time the wear and tear showed. Cleveland right-hander Josh Tomlin allowed four singles, a double and Max Kepler's solo home run over 7?2/3 innings, and the Indians won the three-game series with a 6-1 victory at Target Field.
Kyle Gibson was so-so in his first start of the second half, allowing at least one hit in each of his six innings and 10 overall, the most he's given up this season. One of them was a tremendous solo home run by Mike Napoli, his 20th of the season, that reached the upper deck in left field. Three more were consecutive two-out singles in the fifth inning, the latter one by Francisco Lindor driving home Carlos Santana for the Indians' second run.
Gibson allowed two more runs an inning later, again with two outs, but these weren't entirely his own fault. With two outs and a runner on first, Abraham Almonte smacked a deep fly ball to the warning track in center field. But Danny Santana misread the ball, taking three steps forward before suddenly sprinting back to the fence. By the time the ball arrived, Santana could only wave his glove as it bounced into the bullpen for a ground-rule double.
Handed an extra out by the Twins' defense, Cleveland catcher Chris Gimenez quickly cashed it in, lining a first-pitch single into left field, scoring both runs.
The Indians added two more runs on solo home runs against Twins reliever Neil Ramirez, with Tyler Naquin golfing a 420-foot blast off the batter's eye in center, and Jason Kipnis connecting on a long fly into the Cleveland bullpen, his 15th home run.
Kepler's home run, his ninth in just 49 games this season, accounted for the Twins' only run, and Minnesota didn't really have many other opportunities, either. Only once, after a Robbie Grossman leadoff walk in the third inning, did Tomlin (now 10-3 on the season) allow a Twin to reach third base.
