CLEVEL,AND, Ohio — Listless for four innings, semi-conscious for two, the Guardians finally stirred in the late going Monday night at Progressive Field.
Rookie Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run homer with one out in the eighth inning as the Guardians came from behind to beat the Twins, 4-3. The victory reduced their magic number to eight to clinch the AL Central and two to clinch a playoff berth.
The desperate Twins, who trail the Guards by 7 1/2 in the AL Central, while still clinging to the third spot in the AL wild card race, led for seven innings behind ace Pablo Lopez before Manzardo dropped the hammer on Griffin Jax.
It was the Guardians’ 40th come-from-behind win this season.
Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 46th save, tying Jose Mesa’s single-season club record. It was his 33rd consecutive save.
Josh Naylor started the eighth inning with a double. Lane Thomas struck out, but Manzardo hit Jax’s first-pitch fastball into the seats in right field to erase a 3-2 deficit.
The Guardians, down 3-1, missed a great chance to take control of the game in the seventh. As it was, they closed to within one run at 3-2 on Angel Martinez’s bases-loaded single off Lopez.
Griffin Jax, with the bases still loaded, relieved and struck out Andres Gimenez and retired Jose Ramirez on a grounder to first.
Manzardo opened the inning with a walk. Will Brennan singled and Bo Naylor walked to load the bases. Daniel Schneemann came off the bench to pinch-hit for Brayan Rocchio, but struck out on three pitches before Martinez sent his career-high third hit into left field to score Manzardo.
The Twins took a 3-0 lead in a messy third inning, an inning that lefty Matthew Boyd could not bring to an end.
After Ramirez made a nice play at third to retire Manuel Margot to start the third, Carlos Correa doubled. Boyd struck out Carlos Santana but issued consecutive walks to Royce Lewis and Ryan Jeffers to load the bases.
With Byron Buxton at the plate, the Twins took a 1-0 lead without Buxton swinging the bat. Catcher Bo Naylor was charged with a passed ball as Correa scored.
Buxton followed with a single off Boyd’s glove into center field to make it 3-0 as Lewis and Jeffers scored. Gimenez, pursuing the ball from second base, jarred himself when he collided with second base umpire Chad Fairchild, who was trying to get out of the way of the ball. Gimenez was down on the outfield grass for several minutes being examined by head athletic trainer Jeff Desjardins, but he stayed in the game.
When Kyle Farmer, the next batter, singled Boyd was done for the night after 64 pitches. Pedro Avila relieved and escaped further damage thanks to Ramirez’s second nice play of the inning.
This was Boyd’s second straight early exit. On Sept. 11, he was knocked out of the game after 4 1/3 innings against the White Sox. Chicago scored four runs in the third against Boyd, but only one was earned.
Lopez held the Guardians scoreless on three hits through four innings. After Will Brennan’s one-out single in the second, he retired 10 straight. The streak ended when he hit Rocchio with two out in the fifth. Martinez doubled to right to send Rocchio to third.
Rocchio scored when Gimenez sent a bouncing ball to third that Lewis mishandled. Martinez went to third, but took wide turn around the bag and was thrown out by Lopez, who recovered the ball and threw to Correa, who was covering.
Boyd allowed three runs, two earned, in 2 2/3 innings He struck out five, walked three and allowed five hits.
For yet another night, the Vogt called on his bullpen to keep things close.
Avila, Erick Sabrowski, Eli Morgan, Andrew Walters (1-0) and Clase pitched the final 6 1/3 innings. The win was Walters’ first in the big leagues.
The Guardians couldn’t get anything going against Lopez until he hit Rocchio. They had two soft hits in the first. Buxton, just off the injured list, robbed Bo Naylor with a leaping catcher against the fence in center in the second. Brennan lined out to first in the fifth, but that was the only hard contact Cleveland made outside of Gimenez’s collision with Fairchild.
Lopez, 7-1 since the All-Star break, settled for a no decision after allowed two runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.
Next: RHP Gavin Williams (3-9, 5.23) vs. RHP Zebby Matthews (1-3, 7.11) Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM, WMMS, WARF and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.
