MINNEAPOLIS — Tuesday night’s game between the Indians and Twins featured the long and short of it as starting pitchers go.
The Indians started 5-9, 190-pound Eli Morgan, while the Twins started 6-9, 260-pound Bailey Ober. Besides their physical differences, Morgan and Ober had some similarities — they throw with their right-hands, they’re rookies and they were facing each other’s teams for the first time.
Morgan and Ober each threw six innings, but the tale of the tape and the final score favored Morgan and the Indians, 3-1, at Target Field. It was just the second win of Morgan’s career and his first since June 28 against the Tigers.
This was a good rebound game for Morgan, who lasted just four innings his last time out in a 17-0 loss to the A’s at Progressive Field.
He had to work through some sticky situations early. In the first, he needed 16 pitches to strike out Jorge Polanco — Polanco fouled off 11 pitches — to end the inning. Then he worked himself into a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the second on a leadoff single by Josh Donaldson and two walks.
Morgan (2-5, 5.80) escaped by striking out Miguel Sano and getting Rob Refsnyder to bounce back to the mound where he started a 1-2-3 double play. Morgan was a different pitcher after that as he struck out eight in his six scoreless innings.
“After that inning, I think he settled down and got into a pretty good rhythm,” said acting manager DeMarlo Hale. “The efficiency of his pitches over the next four innings were good. He gets the punchout (Sano) and the check-swing ground ball (Refsndyer’s double play) that turned his game around.
“He got multiple strikeouts with his changeup and one each with his fastball and slider. Just a great effort.”
In his last nine starts, Morgan has gone five or more innings eight times.
Morgan, following the double play, retired the Twins in order in the third. He allowed a leadoff single to Polanco in the fourth, but retired the next eight before Polanco singled again with two out in the sixth. Donaldson ended the inning on a fly ball to the track in right.
Bailey (1-2, 4.38) allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits in six innings. He struck out three with no walks.
“The big thing with the Oakland game was my fastball command,” said Morgan. “It wasn’t where I wanted it. We talked to (catcher Wilson) Ramos today to make sure we established the outside corner. He did a fantastic job out there.”
Daniel Johnson, promoted from Class AAA Columbus on Monday, gave the Indians a 2-0 lead with a long homer off Ober in the fifth. Yu Chang opened the inning with a double off the right field wall. Johnson’s homer cleared that wall and then some as it landed 425 feet from home plate.
It was Johnson’s third homer, all coming off right-handers. He hit 10 homers this year at Columbus.
Asked what it was like to face the 6-9 Ober, Johnson said, “Your approach doesn’t change. If he’s a bigger guy, he gets down the mound a little faster than a guy who is 6-1 or 6-2. But the approach stays the same.”
The Indians made it 3-0 in the sixth, but the opportunity for bigger things was there.
Amed Rosario, with the second-most hits in the AL since the All-Star break, opened the inning with a single. He went to third when Jose Ramirez’s grounder skipped past Sano at first base for an error. Ramos — hitting cleanup with slumping Franmil Reyes getting the night off — sent a drive to the fence in center field. It looked like the ball was out, but Refsnyder made a leaping catch.
Rosario came home on the sacrifice fly, but Ramirez, thinking the ball was a homer, was around second base when Refsnyder made the catch. He was thrown out trying to get back to first, a rare baserunning mistake by Ramirez. The inning ended when Bradley Zimmer grounded out to second.
The Twins had another chance to change the course of the game in the eighth. Rookie Trevor Stephan relieved Bryan Shaw, who pitched a scoreless seventh, and loaded the bases on three straight walks. James Karinchak, sporting a 8.03 ERA since the All-Star break, relieved and escaped.
He induced a double-play grounder from Polanco, but second baseman Ernie Clement bobbled the ball and the Indians had to settle for the out at second as Nick Gordon scored to make it 3-1. Karinchak came back to strike out Donaldson and retire Luis Arraez on a grounder to short.
“Karinchak was outstanding,” said Hale. “We tried to stay away from him. I was hoping Stephan could get an out or two where we could minimize James’ pitch count because he threw 19 to 20 pitches on Monday. It didn’t work and he came in with the bases loaded and got the ground ball and punchout. And his pitch count didn’t got up too much so that was a plus.”
Emmanuel Clase retired the Twins in order in the ninth for his 17th save in 21 chances.
The Indians won for just the seventh time in 17 games in August. It was just the six loss in 15 games for the Twins this month.
Next: RHP Zach Plesac (7-4, 4.64) vs. LHP Lewis Thorpe (0-2, 3.86) on Wednesday at 1:10 p.m. ET. Bally Sports Great Lakes, WTAM and WMMS will carry the game.
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