Indians battle from behind to beat Twins

Byung Ho Park #52 of the Minnesota Twins hits a two-run home run during the third inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on May 13, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.

(May 13, 2016 - Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America)

The Cleveland Indians (17-15) come from behind late in the game as they beat the Minnesota Twins (8-26) 7-6 in the opener of their three-game series.

The ballgame seemed like a home run derby early on. RF Miguel Sano hit the first homer of the game in the opening inning. It was his fifth long ball of the season. DH Byung-ho Park doubled the lead with a leadoff home run in the second.

LF Jose Ramirez hit a one-out single for the Indians in the bottom of the second inning. C Yan Gomes drove him in with a two-out homer to tie the game. It was Gomes’ first hit after a 0-for-20 slump.

In the top of the third inning, 3B Trevor Plouffe reached first base on a fielding error by 3B Juan Uribe. Byung-ho Park followed and his home run restored Minnesota’s two-run advantage.

Cleveland came back and answered with – you guessed it – the fifth homer of the game. 2B Jason Kipnis’ blast to deep right center was his fourth home run of the season.

After some hitless innings, Cleveland tied the game again in the sixth. SS Francisco Lindor hit a one-out single and 1B Mike Napoli as well as Jose Ramirez walked to load the bases.

RF Marlon Byrd hit a deep, deep sacrifice flyball to right field and Francisco Lindor scored Cleveland’s fourth run. Miguel Sano made a great catch on the play and prevented the Indians from scoring even more runs.

The Twins regained the lead in the eighth inning. SS Eduardo Nunez hit a leadoff home run to give Minnesota a 5-4 advantage.

Cleveland responded with three runs in the bottom half. With one-out, Marlon Byrd hit a two-run double and Juan Uribe followed with a two-out RBI-double to put the Indians 7-5 ahead.

CL Cody Allen came in to close out the game. CF Danny Santana managed to score on an RBI-single by Eduardo Nunez but this was the only run Cody Allen allowed, earning him his 9th save of the season.

Minnesota’s SP Ricky Nolasco pitched 6.0 innings, giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and 4 earned runs while striking out 3. He has a 4.87 ERA with a 1.15 WHIP this season.

SP Josh Tomlin worked 6.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks and 3 earned runs while fanning 4. He now posts a 3.82 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP. Josh Tomlin retired 12 batters in a row before he was relieved.

Byung-ho Park went 2-for-5 with 2 runs, 2 HR and 3 RBI. He is batting .245 this season and has 15 runs, 9 HR and 15 RBI.