Game Score: Cleveland 4, Twins 1

[Matthew Taylor]

The long ball hurt the Minnesota Twins tonight as Cleveland hit three home runs and the Twins lost 4-1, just missing out on a sweep.

Box Score

Albers: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K

Home runs: Sanó (26)

Bottom 3 WPA: Albers -.127, Arraez -.092, Simmons -.089

Win Probability Chart (Via FanGraphs)

After an exciting victory on Wednesday night, the Minnesota Twins got on the board first again on Thursday when Miguel Sanó hit a moonshot for the Minnesota Twins in the second inning, his 26th home run of the 2021 season.

 

Unfortunately for the Twins, though, that was the only offense that they would provide for the night. On the night, the Twins were only able to muster four hits, only plating the solo home run from their first baseman. The Sanó home run improved his OPS on the season to .779 as his resurgent second half of the season continued on.

On the other side of the plate, Andrew Albers got the call on the mound for the Minnesota Twins and struggled with two areas that you don’t want to see a pitcher struggle with, control and the long ball. Albers, pitching on four days' rest, could not command any of his pitches and threw just 58% strikes while allowing four free passes.

Additionally, Albers allowed two home runs to Cleveland hitters, one to Franmil Reyes in the third inning and another to Oscar Mercado in the fourth.

In total, Albers only lasted four innings while throwing 98 pitches, following up his incredible start last week with a poor performance today.

In the bullpen, the Twins allowed another home run when José Ramirez hit a solo home run off of Ralph Garza Jr. in the seventh inning to give Cleveland an insurance run.

Emmanuel Clase closed things down for Cleveland in the ninth inning with a perfect ninth inning securing a 4-1 win for Cleveland over the Minnesota Twins to avoid a four-game sweep.

Postgame Interviews

 

What’s Next

The Minnesota Twins will travel home and kick off a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals, beginning with Griffin Jax on the mound Friday night against Daniel Lynch.

Bullpen Usage Report

 

	SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	TOT
Farrell	0	0	0	0	32	32
Colomé	23	9	17	0	0	49
Thielbar	28	0	25	8	0	61
Minaya	0	0	21	0	0	21
Alcalá	15	0	19	0	0	34
Garza Jr.	0	0	0	0	19	19
Duffey	10	8	0	17	0	35
Coulombe	0	0	0	0	15	15

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[mikelink45]

I know it was a fill in game, but don't we have another young arm to try out?

[tony&rodney]

Not a good showing tonight, but hey, if the Twins wins their last 22 games they finish above .500.

[bean5302]

Berrios pitched another gem tonight against the Yankees helping Toronto move to 0.5 games back of the Wild Card spot. Even though Berrios had a couple rough starts in there, I doubt Blue Jays fans have any complaint should Toronto make the playoffs beyond the Wild Card game.