Samuel Deduno’s shoulder and biceps seemed quite alright Friday night, as he led the Twins to a victory over the Indians, 5-1 in Cleveland.
Shoulder pain and biceps tendinitis nearly forced Deduno to the disabled list, but a pain-free bullpen session on Wednesday was good enough for manager Ron Gardenhire to give Deduno the go-ahead to make his next start.
Deduno (8-7) responded with six solid innings, allowing one-run on three hits and four walks. He struck out six.
Offensively, the Twins (57-70) doubled the heck out of the Indians.
Pedro Florimon, Chris Herrmann and Josh Willingham all ripped run-scoring doubles.
Willingham’s was the nail in the coffin — a two-run double off the right field wall to plate two in the top of the seventh inning.
Six of the nine hits for the Twins were doubles. Herrmann doubled twice for the second game in a row. The six doubles equalled a season-high.
Brian Duensing pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief before giving way to Casey Fien to record the final out of the game.
Game two of the weekend series is Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Liam Hendriks starts for the Twins and he’ll be opposed by Cleveland’s Zach McAllister.
