Guardians within a game of division lead after beating Twins 8-0 for 10th straight win

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Steven Kwan tied a season high with four RBIs, Logan Allen pitched a career-best eight innings and the Cleveland Guardians made it 10 straight wins by beating the Minnesota Twins 8-0 on Saturday to sweep a day-night doubleheader without giving up a run.

Winners in 15 of their past 16 games, the Guardians are one game back of first-place Detroit in the AL Central after trailing by 11 on Sept. 4. The Tigers were beaten 6-5 by Atlanta on Saturday afternoon.

The Guardians also are tied with Houston for the last American League wild card, a game behind Boston. They won the opener 6-0, hitting five home runs in a game for the first time since April 10, 2021.

It was the 11th time Cleveland pitched shutouts in both ends of a doubleheader and first since Sept. 30, 1964, against Boston. The only other time the Twins went scoreless for 18 innings in a twinbill came against Cleveland on May 21, 1961.

Minnesota was blanked twice in Oakland on April 20, 2021, but those were seven-inning games due to rules in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Limited to one hit through four innings, Cleveland sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth.

A one-out single by Kwan scored Brayan Rocchio and Petey Halpin. With two outs, Kyle Manzardo and C.J. Kayfus had RBI singles around a two-run double by Gabriel Arias to the wall in right-center field.

Kwan added a two-run single in the eighth.

That was more than enough for Allen (8-11), who earned his first win since July 29 by scattering four hits and striking out seven.

Guardians starters have allowed no more than two earned runs in 15 straight games since Sept. 5, the longest streak in franchise history.

Bailey Ober (5-9) permitted six runs and eight hits in five innings for the Twins. After going 4-1 in his first seven starts, he is 1-8 in 19 starts since May 8. He missed 26 games from June 29 to Aug. 2 with a left hip impingement.

Halpin’s single was his first career hit. The 23-year-old outfielder was called up from the minors earlier in the day when outfielder Nolan Jones was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique.

The Twins had seven hits in the doubleheader, falling to 2-7 in their past nine games and 4-15 in September.

Sunday’s series finale has Cleveland LHP Joey Cantillo (5-3, 3.27 ERA) scheduled to face Minnesota RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (7-4, 4.31).

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