Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins Pick & Prediction AUGUST 9th 2024

Stadium: Target Field Minneapolis
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The Cleveland Guardians will try to finish a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins when the teams meet in their series finale Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Cleveland won the series opener 4-2 Thursday and followed with a 3-1 victory Saturday. The Guardians have won four straight games and seven of nine to start the season.

The latest victory came hours after the team announced that veteran right-hander Shane Bieber would be lost for the season because of an elbow injury.

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"This is a special group of guys we have right now," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. "To go through a day like we all had (Saturday) and then have a game like we had, it was real telling about the people in that room."

Minnesota will seek to stave off a sweep in its home-opening weekend. The Twins are looking to jump-start their offense, which has been dormant for most of the season.

On Saturday, the Twins went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Twins batters struck out 14 times one game after striking out 15 times in the home opener Thursday.

"That's not going to last forever," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "We know that. But all these games matter, and the sooner we figure this out, the better."

Cleveland right-hander Triston McKenzie (0-1, 10.80 ERA) will try to keep the Twins at bay in his second start of the season. McKenzie is looking for his first win after giving up five runs (four earned) in 3 1/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners on Monday.

McKenzie has made 10 career starts against Minnesota. He is 2-5 with a 5.14 ERA in those games and has walked 15 and struck out 64 in 56 innings.

The Twins will counter on Sunday with right-hander Bailey Ober (0-1, 54.00 ERA), who also is looking to bounce back from a regrettable season debut. Ober surrendered eight runs in 1 1/3 innings in his opening start against the Kansas City Royals on March 31.

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The rocky performance surprised Ober, who went 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA in 26 starts last season. The 28-year-old has 294 strikeouts in 294 career innings.

In five career starts against Cleveland, Ober is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA. He has walked only two and struck out 21 in 28 innings.

After his rough 2024 debut, Ober said he would watch film and get ready for Cleveland.

"I'll go back, look at it and see if anything was going weird," he said. "I executed some (pitches), they hit them. Didn't execute some, they hit them."

Twins right fielder Max Kepler also is looking to change the narrative after a rough start to the season. Kepler has one hit in his first 20 at-bats for a batting average of .050.

Cleveland left fielder Steven Kwan will try to bounce back from a rare hitless performance. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Saturday but is hitting .349 to start the season with 15 hits in his first 43 at-bats.

Wet weather could jeopardize Sunday's series finale. The forecast for Minneapolis calls for temperatures in the 40s with a 90 percent chance of rain.

Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins Recap APR 7TH 2024

David Fry hit a three-run home run in the second inning, and the visiting Cleveland Guardians held on for a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Seven Guardians pitchers combined to hold the Twins to two hits. Cleveland won its fourth game in a row and continued its hot start, with seven wins in nine games.

Alex Kirilloff ripped an RBI triple to account for Minnesota's lone run. The Twins were held to two runs or fewer for the fourth time in seven games.

Guardians right-hander Nick Sandlin (2-0) earned the win with an inning of hitless relief. He struck out two batters.

Twins right-hander Joe Ryan (0-1) gave up three runs on five hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out seven, and he threw 67 of 90 pitches for strikes.

Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his fourth save.

Minnesota opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Carlos Correa drew a one-out walk and came around to score on a triple to right field by Kirilloff.

Cleveland grabbed the lead in the top of the second. Fry belted a three-run homer an estimated 424 feet to left-center field to drive in Tyler Freeman and Will Brennan.

The blast marked Fry's first home run of the season and the fifth of his career.

Guardians right-hander Carlos Carrasco allowed one run on one hit in three innings in his second start of the season. He walked three and struck out six, and he gave way to the bullpen after throwing 78 pitches.

Sandlin, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Scott Barlow, Tyler Beede and Clase combined to throw six scoreless innings to preserve the lead for the Guardians.

Cleveland played its first game since learning that right-hander Shane Bieber will require season-ending elbow surgery. Bieber, 28, posted a 2-0 record and tossed 12 scoreless innings before he was shut down.