The Twins lost to the Indians, 9-4 Thursday afternoon in Cleveland.
Minnesota was down to just one bench player as the likes of Joe Mauer (back), Oswaldo Arcia (wrist), Josh Willingham (wrist), Aaron Hicks (concussion) and Sam Fuld (concussion) are all out with injuries. Mauer missed his fourth game in a row and could be headed for a trip to the disabled list.
As for the game, the Indians touched up Minnesota starter Kevin Correia with one run in the first inning, another in the second and two more in the fifth.
David Murphy gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the first, scoring Michael Brantley, who also doubled in the inning. Asdrubal Cabrera’s solo home run in the second made it a 2-0 game and Correia’s afternoon came to a crashing halt when Brantley blasted a two-run home run to right field in the fifth.
Correia allowed four runs on eight hits and four walks and his ERA on the season inflated to 6.34.
The Twins cut the deficit to three in the sixth inning when Brian Dozier and Danny Santana scored on an infield single by Chris Colabello. Colabello now has 30 RBIs this season.
Cleveland added a run in the sixth before the Twins plated a pair in the seventh to make it a 5-4 game, but the Indians put the game out of reach with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Cleveland took the final three games of the four-game series. Minnesota now heads to Detroit for a weekend series against the Tigers.
