Willi Castro hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning as the Minnesota Twins rallied to defeat the Cleveland Guardians 7-6 in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday at Minneapolis.
Christian Vazquez led off the ninth with a four-pitch walk off Guardians reliever Eli Morgan (2-1) and advanced to third on Jorge Polanco’s double before being replaced by pinch runner Ryan Jeffers.
Alex Kirilloff was then walked intentionally to load the bases, and Castro, who entered the game in the seventh inning when Max Kepler left due to a migraine, followed with fly ball to right to easily drive in Jeffers.
Royce Lewis hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the eighth and Michael A. Taylor also homered for the Twins. Minnesota’s Donovan Solano had two hits, including an RBI double, and Vazquez went 2-for-3. Griffin Jax (3-6) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief.
Mike Zunino had a two-run single to highlight a five-run sixth inning that saw Cleveland chase Minnesota starter Pablo Lopez. Will Brennan and Gabriel Arias each added two hits apiece for the Guardians.
Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Andres Gimenez led off with a bloop double down the left field line and scored two outs later on a single by Brennan.
Minnesota tied it in the fourth when Kirilloff led off with a walk, went to second when Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by Kepler.
The Twins took a 3-1 lead in the fifth. Taylor led off with his seventh homer of the season. Vazquez followed with a double and later scored on a single by Kirilloff.
Cleveland rebounded to take a 6-3 lead in the sixth, parlaying a walk and six singles into five runs. Jose Ramirez and Josh Bell sandwiched RBI singles around an RBI groundout by Gimenez. Zunino capped the rally with a two-run, bases-loaded single under the glove of a diving Lewis at third base.
Minnesota rallied to tie it 6-6 in the eighth against Cleveland reliever Trevor Stephan. Castro led off with an infield single and then scored on a double by Solano into the gap in left center. One out later, Lewis tied it with his second home run of the season, a 421-foot drive to center.
Buxton left in the fifth inning with rib soreness after getting hit in the ribs with a Tanner Bibee fastball an inning earlier.
Bibee, the Cleveland starter, yielded three runs on six hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out six.
–Field Level Media
