Minnesota Twins reach a sudden conclusion against Cleveland Guardians, losing 2-1 after a drawn-out start

CLEVELAND — It barely rained at Progressive Field on Tuesday, and the Twins and Guardians followed the weather’s lead: Not much rain, and only a little bit of thunder in their bats.

No Twin ever touched third base during the long-delayed game, for instance, except for during Ty France’s home run trot.

The Guardians had only slightly more traffic on the bases, but it was enough. Bo Naylor lofted a home run into the right field seats in the fourth inning, and in the ninth, Kyle Manzardo launched a home run off Louie Varland, delivering the Guardians a 2-1 victory.

“We had a tough time putting together enough really good at-bats in a row to score runs,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It was one of those well-pitched games. You’ve just got to try to muscle your way through it and try to find a way to put another run or two on the board. We didn’t do it.”

Manzardo did, first by fouling off a 1-0 low-and-in changeup from Varland. The Twins righthander, pitching in the ninth inning for the first time all season, then tried another one — in a much more hittable spot. Manzardo pounded the pitch down the right field line, and the Twins trudged off the field.

The game, and the one run of support, must have seemed so familiar to Twins starter Chris Paddack, who has started all three games in which the Twins have been shut out. Paddack pitched well, allowing only three singles and Naylor’s home run before he was lifted after five innings.

“I was a little frustrated. Saw my pitch count was 76, and after the fourth inning, obviously I was hyped up,” Paddack said. “Went back out there for the fifth and got 1-2-3, to show them, hey, my stuff is there.”

But the Twins have a well-rested bullpen — almost too well-rested, Baldelli said.

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“A lot of guys in our bullpen are beyond fresh. Really, they needed to get out there, and they’ve been throwing the ball well, too,” Baldelli said. “So we just decided to go to the pen.”

It worked for three innings, with Brock Stewart, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each contributing an inning of scoreless relief. But Varland wasn’t so effective, allowing only his second run in his past nine appearances.

It was the Guardians’ first walk-off home run since Will Brennan connected last May 19 — also against the Twins.

“It was a good game. We just didn’t come up with a win,” Carlos Correa said. “Come back tomorrow and keep up the same spirits. We’ve been playing great ball for the last week, we’ve just got to keep building on that.”

France had three of the Twins’ seven hits, including his third homer of the year, a 396-foot blast to center field off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. He also singled twice but was thrown out while scrambling back to first base on a base hit to left field, and pinch-runner DaShawn Kiersey was thrown out trying to steal after France’s ninth-inning hit.

The Twins complained that first baseman Carlos Santana was blocking the bag with his foot while tagging France out, but “the umpires said they thought he’d be out regardless of the relay throw when Carlos caught the ball at first base,” Baldelli said. “But Ty had to change his path to get around him. I think it’s pretty close to the definition of blocking the bag.”

BOXSCORE: Guardians 2, Twins 1

MLB standings

The game’s start was delayed by 3 hours, 10 minutes, mostly thanks to faulty forecasting. Believing that the game would be interrupted within an hour by a thunderstorm, the Guardians chose to cover the field and wait past the 6:10 p.m. start time.

After more than two hours passed with no rain, the Guardians’ grounds crew removed the tarp and began preparing the field. But before they could finish, word came that rain was arriving soon, so they covered the field anew, this time to heavy boos from the small crowd.

Finally, it did indeed rain — for less than five minutes. The Guardians announced the game would begin 35 minutes later, at 9:20 p.m. Eastern time— and that the 14,312 ticket-holders would be rewarded for their patience with coupons for free tickets.