CLEVELAND — It seemed clear, even before Wednesday’s game started, that if the Twins were going to win, they were going to need their taxed bullpen to step up and relievers to come through in different roles than they’re used to handling.
That meant Louie Varland pitching the eighth inning of a tied game. That meant Jhoan Duran coming in for a second straight day. And that meant Ronny Henriquez trying to nail down a save.
Cleveland Guardians’ Andres Gimenez steals second base beating a tag by Minnesota Twins second baseman Brooks Lee during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
Varland and Duran got through their innings. But after Carlos Correa came through with a clutch two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, Henriquez was unable to hold up his end of the bargain.
The Guardians came storming right back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the 10th, the third on a Bryan Rocchio walk-off single, to take 5-4 win over the Twins on Wednesday night at Progressive Field, sending them to yet another crushing defeat.
This one came after Correa’s big swing, which had seemingly put the Twins on a path to victory.
Correa has made a career of stepping up in September and October, when the lights get a little brighter and the pressure is on. After missing months due to plantar fasciitis in his right heel, Correa returned over the weekend, clearly not at 100 percent.
But even when he’s not at his healthiest, the star shortstop has made his impact felt. Correa drove in all four of the Twins’ runs on Wednesday, collecting three hits. Matt Wallner also finished with three hits, and Willi Castro scored a pair of runs.
But despite the efforts of the top of the Twins’ lineup and a dominant outing from Bailey Ober, the Twins weren’t able to scratch out a victory.
With the back of the Twins’ bullpen used heavily recently, the Twins needed Ober to keep Cleveland quiet for as long as he possibly could.
He did just that in a dominant seven-inning effort in which he fed the Guardians a steady dose of changeups and set a new career-high with 12 strikeouts. He made two mistakes to Josh Naylor, who took him deep in both the second and seventh innings, tying the game up twice.
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