Minnesota Twins win, one game out with three to go
It’s starting to look like the Minnesota Twins might just be playing meaningful baseball through at least the final out of the regular season. The Twins won their final game in Cleveland on Thursday night, 4-2, and move to one game back of the final AL Wild Card spot with three games left.
Thursday saw the Twins win, the Los Angeles Angels lose and the Houston Astros didn’t play. The Astros currently have the last playoff spot with the Twins and Angels both one game behind.
The Twins got yet another wonderful start from Tyler Duffey. Duffey went 6.1 innings of work and struck out six Indians while allowing only two runs on six hits. The two runs given up by Duffey were on a two-run home run from Roberto Perez to give the Indians a 2-1 lead in the seventh.
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Trevor Plouffe gave the Twins the early lead in the fourth with a ground rule double that scored Joe Mauer. Perez took the lead in the seventh for Cleveland. Eduardo Escobar was at it again in the next half inning, tying it back up for the Twins with an RBI double that scored Danny Santana. The Twins then stole a couple runs from the Indians to take the lead in the ninth.
Indians pitcher Cody Allen uncorked a wild pitch in the ninth that allowed Eduardo Nunez to scamper home free to score and allowed Eddie Rosario to get to third. Torii Hunter than hit a sac fly to score Rosario and give the Twins the defining 4-2 win.
Trevor May, Glen Perkins and Kevin Jepsen came out of the bullpen to close the game up. Jepsen notched his 15th save of the season.
The Twins now return home to take on the Kansas City Royals for three games. Kansas City has wrapped up the American League Central, but they do have something to play for. The Royals and Toronto Blue Jays both enter the final three with the same record of 92-67, whoever has the better record gets home field throughout the American League playoffs.
Next: Five things the Twins need to make the playoffs!