Guardians 2, Twins 1: Free Space

It was the kind of pitcher’s duel that makes you think, “Hey, those offenses played 18 innings yesterday.” Still, the excellent performances of both starting pitchers resulted in the closest result possible, with both teams scoring at least once (little math fact for you), and the Cleveland Guardians winning their first game of this series by a 2-1 final.

If you missed it, you can first check out these clips from the Twins Hall of Fame’s annual induction night. Watch highlights like Terry Ryan’s Bottomless List of Names.

In the decisive third game of the series, Simeon Woods Richardson was able to prove himself. He has performed well all season, but with Joe Ryan out long-term, it is up to the young right-hander to take another step up the performance ladder and continue to make starts like this.

Against the first-place Guardians, SWR held Cleveland to three hits and two runs in six innings, helped by an extremely slick defense and only by the home runs of Steven Kwan (his first hit of the game) and Bo Naylor (with which he doubled the lead in the sixth inning).

Simeon had only 76 pitches to start the 7th inning, but managed a leadoff single to keep the Guardians’ score at 2-1 until the final period. He finished the 7th inning with the longest start of his professional career, a much appreciated turn of events given the current state of Minnesota’s pitching corps.

But for every hit Woods threw at Richardson, Cleveland starter Gavin Williams had a counter. Williams played his way through six innings with ease, with the only twin-run coming on Matt Wallner’s RBI groundout in the sixth inning. They might have scored another run if Kwan hadn’t pulled off a clever defensive feint in left field to set up a rare 7-5 fielder’s decision.

While Josh Winder Richardson came up with a stellar performance to tie the game at one, the Guardians used Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis to produce their own – and found a way to get Emmanuel Clase into the ninth inning with the lead. It’s a game plan that has worked for rookie manager Steven Vogt all year, and tonight it worked again.

Clase struck out Matt Wallner with a 101 swing, got Byron Buxton on a 102 groundout, then slowed the velocity down to just under 90 to help Max Kepler get the game-winning ground ball. As the kids say, “Biggity-biggity ball game.”

With the deficit now back to 2.5 games, the Twins will regroup for Sunday’s series finale. They still have a chance to win three of four games in impressive fashion and send Cleveland off with a little reflection as the final weeks of the season approach.

Hope to see you then!

Bolts:

SP Simeon Woods Richardson (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 HR, 0 BB, 7 K)

RP Josh Winder (2 IP, 0 R, BB, 2 K)

Unexploded bombs:

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