Major League Baseball
Minnesota 8, Cleveland 3
When: 6:10 PM ET, Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio
Temperature: 86°
Umpires: Home - Nic Lentz, 1B - Paul Clemons, 2B - Junior Valentine, 3B - Chad Fairchild
Attendance: 20224

Donovan Solano hit a three-run triple to highlight a five-run eighth inning and Christian Vazquez homered to lead the visiting Minnesota Twins to an 8-3 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night.

Vazquez went 2-for-2 with two walks and Solano and Willi Castro each had two hits for Minnesota (73-66), which extended its American League Central lead to seven games over the second-place Guardians. Griffin Jax (6-8) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief.

Bo Naylor homered and Will Brennan had two hits and scored a run for Cleveland (66-73). Trevor Stephan (6-6) took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batter in two-thirds of an inning.

The contest was tied 3-3 entering the eighth inning when the Twins broke it open, taking advantage of Stephan's wildness.

Vazquez started the rally with a single and then advanced to third on an opposite-field double down the left-field line by Castro. One out later, Jorge Polanco drove in pinch runner Joey Gallo with a sacrifice fly.

Stephan then walked Royce Lewis and Max Kepler to load the bases. Castro scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-3, and Stephan then hit Carlos Correa with a pitch to load the bases again.

Solano followed with a sinking line drive. Center fielder Myles Straw ran in and tried to short-hop the ball, but it bounced past his glove and rolled to the track, allowing all three runners to score, making it 8-3.

The Twins, coming in off a 20-6 win in the series opener on Monday, picked up where they left off in the first inning, jumping out to a 2-0 lead against Cleveland starter Tanner Bibee. Lewis walked with two outs and scored on a double by Kepler. Correa then followed with a single to drive in Kepler.

Cleveland tied it 2-2 in the third on Naylor's home run to right, driving in Brennan, who had singled to start the inning. It was Naylor's eighth homer of the season.

The Guardians took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Gabriel Arias led off with a double to center, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Straw.

Minnesota tied it 3-3 in the sixth when Vazquez sliced the ball just inside the right-field foul pole for his sixth home run of the season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   Cleveland
Sonny Gray Player Tanner Bibee
No Decision W/L No Decision
6.0 IP 5.0
4 Strikeouts 4
6 Hits 4
4.50 ERA 3.60
Hitting
Minnesota   Cleveland
Christian Vazquez Player Will Brennan
2 Hits 2
1 RBI 0
1 HR 0
5 TB 2
1.000 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 11 1 20 .306 19 10 7 7 0 0
Cleveland 7 1 11 .226 12 7 3 2 1 0