CLEVELAND, Ohio — Jordan Luplow’s game-tying squeeze bunt in the ninth inning seemed an unlikely play, but James Karinchak’s collapse in the 10th was completely unexpected.
Minnesota’s Kyle Garlick smacked a three-run home run off Karinchak to break a 5-5 tie in extra innings as the Cleveland Indians dropped an 8-5 decision Sunday to the Twins at Progressive Field.
Karinchak, nearly unhittable through his first 21 appearances this season, walked leadoff hitter Josh Donaldson and surrendered Garlick’s third home run on a 3-2 fastball over the middle of the plate. Donaldson and Luis Arraez, the automatic runner who started the 10th inning at second base, also scored.
It marked the first earned runs allowed by Karinchak in nearly three weeks, and upped his season ERA from 0.44 to 1.31. All of Karinchak’s earned runs allowed this season have come via the home run. Indians manager Terry Francona said Karinchak’s nearly spotless record up until that point gave him confidence heading into the inning.
“Normally even when he’s got the deep counts, he’s found a way to get out of it,” Francona said. “Today, it didn’t work. I mean, the kid’s human. I think that’s the fourth or fifth hit he’s given up of the year. That’s pretty amazing.”
Cleveland lost for just the third time in 23 games when scoring at least four runs, and just the fifth time in 21 games when being out-hit by the opposition. The Twins picked up their first extra-inning win in nine tries and their first series win at Progressive Field since September, 2019.
Down a run in the ninth, Cleveland rallied behind Luplow’s one-out RBI sacrifice squeeze bunt that scored César Hernández from third with the tying run. It was Luplow’s first career sacrifice bunt in four major league bunt attempts. Luplow said he was trying to take advantage of the way Minnesota’s infield was aligned against him.
“They were all shifting me to the left, and I figured if I can get it in between the pitcher and the first baseman, we’ve got a good chance, especially with César running over there,” Luplow said.
Francona said Luplow called for the bunt on his own, alerting third base coach Mike Sarbaugh and Hernández of his intentions.
“That was a great play because he had been having a tough time today swinging the bat and it gave us a chance to keep playing,” Francona said. “We had some really good opportunities to add on today or to extend the lead early and we just didn’t do it.”
Francona watched as another starting pitcher struggled through a big inning for opposing hitters. Zach Plesac was staked to a three-run advantage, but gave it all back and then some as the Twins scored five times in the fourth.
Cleveland took the lead on a José Ramírez RBI double and an RBI single by Eddie Rosario in the first, as well as an RBI single by Amed Rosario in the second. But Plesac couldn’t stand the good fortune. He was perfect through three innings, however, could not sustain that success the second time through Minnesota’s lineup.
The first three batters in the fourth reached base with singles and scored on Max Kepler’s three-run drive to right field that tied things at 3-3. It was Kepler’s 13th career home run at Progressive Field. Minnesota took the lead on a bases-loaded single by Rob Refsnyder and added a run to make it 5-3 on Andrelton Simmons’ RBI groundout.
Francona said Plesac’s first three innings were “tremendous” before he ran into trouble.
“Then it just seemed to go away in a hurry,” Francona said. “We didn’t make all the plays, and there were a couple of balls that got through, you know, ground balls. It seemed like he gave up the changeup home run to Kepler and some of his aggressiveness in the zone left him there.”
Plesac agreed that leaving the changeup high in the strike zone to Kepler led to his undoing.
“That was the start of it,” he said. “I kind of lost rhythm I guess, kind of started trying to be too fine with pitches. I just didn’t get them executed like I needed to. Before we knew it, we looked up and there was a crooked number on the board.”
Cleveland cut the Twins’ lead in half in the fifth when Hernandez led off with a double and scored on Amed Rosario’s RBI triple. But the Indians were unable to get Rosario home from third, as Ramírez and Jordan Luplow struck out and Eddie Rosario grounded out.
Amed Rosario collected four hits and two RBI. It was his second four-hit game this year and seventh of his career. Rosario is batting .372 (16-for-43) over his last 11 games after hitting .189 (17-for-90) in his first 28 games this season.
Hernandez, the hero in Saturday’s walk-off win, entered the game hitting .239 in the leadoff spot with a .653 OPS in his last 22 games.
The Indians missed a chance to tie the score in the seventh when Eddie Rosario grounded out to Alex Kirilloff at first base with two out and runners at first and second. Rosario sent a bouncer that Kirilloff stopped with a dive and threw to pitcher Caleb Thielbar covering the bag. Rosario dove headfirst and was called out to end the inning on a close play that was upheld after a manager’s challenge.
Harold Ramirez ran into an out in the eighth after a one-out double against Taylor Rogers. Yu Chang sent a sharp grounder that Simmons backhanded at short and threw to Donaldson, who tagged Ramirez advancing.
Cleveland stranded 10 baserunners and went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position.
Indians relievers Kyle Nelson, Phil Maton, Nick Wittgren, Bryan Shaw and Cal Quantrill combined to shut the Twins out over 5 1/3 innings, surrendering just one hit with two walks and nine strikeouts. Shaw lowered his ERA to 1.50 through 19 games (18 innings).
Next: Cleveland opens a four-game series Monday in Detroit. Lefty Sam Hentges (1-1, 6.46) will start the opener for the Indians while righty Spencer Turnbull (3-2, 2.88) goes for the Tigers. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. The game will air on Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM 1100 AM, WMMS 100.7 FM and the Indians Radio Network.
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