The Minnesota Twins evened their series with the Cleveland Indians on Friday night with a 4-1 victory at Target Field, but the bigger story is the status of Josh Donaldson, who left early with right calf tightness.
Donaldson singled in the first inning and ran the bases to score on an Eddie Rosario double, but left after the second inning due to the injury. Even without Donaldson in the lineup, the Twins lineup rebounded from being shut out by the Indians on Tuesday night.
Max Kepler smacked his second leadoff home run of the year to get things started and Rosario’s two-run double gave the Twins an early 3-0 lead against Mike Clevinger.
đź—Ł EDDIE
đź—Ł EDDIE#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/ajFZ0Q1lze— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) August 1, 2020
Alex Avila added a solo blast in the second inning to give Randy Dobnak all the run support he needed. The right-hander didn’t have his best control but threw five shutout innings while scattering three hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
The Twins bullpen took over from there and although Tyler Clippard allowed an RBI double to Franmil Reyes to cut into the deficit, the Indians never mounted a threat as the Twins improved to 5-2 on the season.
Kenta Maeda will take the ball for the third game of the series for the Twins on Saturday and will be opposed by Carlos Carrasco. Saturday’s game is slated for a 6:10 p.m. start.
