Twins’ offensive woes continue in 4-3 extra-inning loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND – The Twins started their four-game series against the rival Guardians with an impressive 10-run blowout. They ended it with three close losses, continuing a trend that’s been going on for years.

Angel Martínez singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning Thursday as the Guardians completed a soggy 4-3 victory over the Twins, giving Cleveland the final three games of a four-game series.

The past 12 times the Twins and Guardians have played a one-run game at Progressive Field, Cleveland has come out on top, a stretch that dates to 2020. After an 11-1 loss Monday, the Guardians won 2-1 on Tuesday, then 4-2 on Wednesday.

The Twins are now 4-13 vs. the Guardians since the start of last season, and 11 of the losses were by one or two runs. A 12th came on a three-run walk-off homer. Five of the nine losses at Cleveland were walk-off losses.

“I don’t get down coming here or playing these types of games,” manager Rocco Baldelli said following a game that was twice delayed by rain. “The Guardians push you in different ways. That’s well-discussed over the years in the way that they play and way they pitch and make plays in the field. They play a certain brand of baseball and you end up in those types of games.

“You’ve got to find your way through those games and find ways to score and win. Coming here doesn’t affect me at all, but we’ve got some work to do right now.”

After the Twins took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 10th on Jonah Bride’s sacrifice fly, Cleveland answered quickly off Justin Topa.

The Twins lost despite outhitting Cleveland 13-6. They went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on.

“If I had that answer we’d be scoring a lot more runs,” first baseman Ty France said. “I don’t know. ... I don’t think we really did anything wrong.”

Said Baldelli: “Of course it’s going to get a little frustrating at times when you’re not bringing them home. But we have to keep plugging and working hard and getting those baserunners out there and trusting that our guys are going to bring them home.”

Simeon Woods Richardson pitched 4⅔ innings, and how well he performed seems like a matter of taste. The Guardians reached base in all five innings against the righthander, who walked a career-high five batters, needing 98 pitches to get those 14 outs. Woods Richardson gave up two hits — but both of them drove in runs, an RBI single from Kyle Manzardo in the first inning and a 450-foot solo home run by Jhonkensy Noel in the fourth.

When the first rain delay arrived, the Twins had six hits, including no-out doubles by France and Brooks Lee, but were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position at the time, with France even thrown out at the plate on a hard-hit ground ball to third base.

The Guardians called on lefthander Hunter Gaddis, who immediately gave up singles to Edouard Julien and Carlos Correa, the latter scoring Vázquez with the tying run.

BOXSCORE: Cleveland 4, Twins 3 (10)

MLB standings

The eighth inning included a one-out double by Bader and a two-out walk by Vázquez — followed by heavy rain and a strong wind that made it difficult for the grounds crew to cover the infield and brought on a delay of more than two hours. When play resumed, the Twins loaded the bases, but Correa popped out to second to end the inning.

Now it’s on to Boston for the Twins, with a little more hope that they can reclaim the hitting form they displayed at Target Field last week. More rain is in the forecast.