Minnesota Twins pitcher Josh Winder throws against the Cleveland Guardians in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Andrés Giménez and Steven Kwan hit solo homers, Shane Bieber had another strong start and the Cleveland Guardians finished off a sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 4-1 win Sunday.
Bieber (10-8) went 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and one run while striking out seven. Bieber has allowed more than two runs just once in his last nine starts. James Karinchak walked a pair of batters in the ninth inning but struck out three to earn his second save.
Cleveland had lost nine of its previous 13 games but still held a 1 ½ game lead over Minnesota in the American League Central entering the series. The Guardians strengthened their position and the Twins have lost nine of 11 and are in third place, 4 ½ games back.
Josh Winder (4-4) gave up two runs in four innings for Minnesota after being recalled from Triple-A St. Paul before the game. Winder, who made his first major league start since July 13, had recently returned from the minor league injured list.
Minnesota trailed early for the third straight game when Giménez hit his 16th homer in the second. Kwan led off the third with his fourth homer of the year.
Gary Sánchez drove in a run in the fifth as a pinch-hitter for the Twins as his ground ball deflected off the third-base bag, allowing Nick Gordon to score from third. Gio Urshela and Gordon started the seventh with singles off Bieber to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Bieber retired Kyle Garlick on an infield popout. Sam Hentges relieved Bieber and got a popout and strike out to leave the tying run at third.
The Guardians added two insurance runs in the ninth.
BREWERS 7, REDS 6
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Rowdy Tellez homered twice, doubled and drove in four runs as the Milwaukee Brewers withstood a ninth-inning comeback attempt to edge the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 on Sunday.
Willy Adames and Tellez hit back-to-back homers off Reds starter Justin Dunn (1-3) in the Brewers’ four-run second inning. Tellez added a solo shot off Luke Farrell in the fourth inning for his 30th homer of the season.
Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell made a diving catch of a TJ Friedl fly ball in the ninth inning that prevented the Reds from tying the game.
Cincinnati’s Alejo López went 3 for 3 with his first career homer and a double.
The Reds trailed 7-2 through six innings but nearly came all the way back.
Cincinnati was still behind 7-4 when Spencer Steer doubled and López hit an infield single to start the ninth. The Reds brought the tying run to second with nobody out after Matt Reynolds hit a grounder to the left side and reached second on third baseman Jace Peterson’s errant throw.
After Williams struck out Kyle Farmer, Mitchell’s diving catch turned Friedl’s potential game-tying single into a mere sacrifice fly. Williams then struck out Jonathan India for his 12th save in 13 opportunities. India struck out on each of his five plate appearances.
This marked Tellez’s fifth multi-homer game of the season. His huge performance delighted the 42,482 spectators who gave Milwaukee its third sellout of the season, capitalizing on a promotional giveaway of bobbleheads featuring Milwaukee Bucks superstar and Brewers minority owner Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Tellez and Adames have been dueling for the team lead in homers.
Adames’ two-run shot to center was his 28th of the season, briefly tying Tellez for the team lead. Tellez followed by delivering No. 29, a liner just inside the right-field foul pole.
Tellez also had a two-run double in the first inning.
Adames needs just one more homer to match the single-season record for a Brewers shortstop. Hall of Famer Robin Yount hit 29 homers in 1982 while earning MVP honors and leading the Brewers to their lone World Series appearance.
Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff (10-4) struck out 11, walked one and gave up five hits and two runs in six innings.
Dunn struck out one but yielded six runs, six hits and three walks in three innings.
