Michael Cuddyer's tying three-run homer
rescued the Minnesota Twins in the eighth inning, ruining a fine
start for Cleveland by Jeremy Sowers in a 6-3 victory over the
Indians on Monday night.
Sowers stymied the Twins with his jerky left-handed delivery and
left with a 3-0 lead after seven innings. Reliever Tony Sipp let
the first two batters reach base in the eighth, though, the first
coming on an error by shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera.
Indians manager Eric Wedge summoned the right-handed Chris Perez
to face Cuddyer, who crushed a fastball into the stacks of football
seats behind center field. Cuddyer flipped his bat with a flick of
the wrist as he strided toward first and handed out several hard
high-fives on his approach to the plate and return to the dugout.
Perez (0-1) is no batting practice pitcher, either. He struck
out 30 with only 10 hits and two runs allowed over his previous 23
innings. After Cuddyer's homer, however, he collapsed.
Two singles. A wild pitch that let the go-ahead run score. Then
a two-run shot into the upper deck by pinch-hitter Jason Kubel.
Joe Nathan notched his 39th save, another not-so-smooth ninth
inning featuring a single and a walk with two outs.
But Jesse Crain and Ron Mahay (2-1) worked scoreless innings in
relief before him, and the Twins kept pace in the AL Central race.
They're 5½ games behind Detroit, after the Tigers came back from a
5-2 bottom-of-the-ninth deficit to beat Toronto.
Carl Pavano, pitching against the Indians for the first time
since they traded him to the Twins last month, was in command for
six innings except for two balls his old teammates crushed. Trevor
Crowe hit his first career homer, a two-run shot in the third, and
Shin-Soo Choo went deep in the next inning.
Wedge was asked before the game about Choo's second-half power
slump, and he expressed no concern about it because of the way he
believes Choo has stayed disciplined - sidestepping temptation to
swing for homers and potentially throw his approach out of whack.
Choo, in his first full season as a regular in the majors, has
kept his average near .300 all summer. The right fielder from South
Korea has 16 homers, but only three since July 7. Choo also went
deep on Saturday against Kansas City.
NOTES: The Twins lead the league with 135 double plays grounded
into. ... Concerned about some sloppiness he's seen recently in his
young club, Wedge addressed the team in a 10-minute meeting before
batting practice. ... Mauer (27), Cuddyer (25), and Kubel (23) have
each established career highs in homers this year.
